Floppy Drive Exerciser CDOS Program

[Martin Eberhard]

If anyone is interested in aligning their floppy disk drives, I 've written a pretty extensive floppy drive exerciser program that runs under CDOS, called Flexer.  Flexer will let you exercise all the functions of most floppy drives you might have on a Cromemco machine, including  Persci drives. From the User's Manual:

Description
Flexer is a general-purpose floppy drive exerciser program that runs under Cromemco CDOS 2.XX. Flexer is designed to exercise any type of floppy drive that is attached to a Cromemco 4FDC, 16FDC, or 64FDC Floppy Disk Controller, and is especially suitable as a tool for the somewhat tricky task of aligning Persci drives. (Note that Persci drives are not supported on the 64FDC.)

System Requirements
o   A Z-80 based computer running at exactly 4.0 MHz
o   At least 16K of available 0 wait-state RAM starting at address 0000, in  addition to CDOS’s memory requirements
o   A Cromemco 4FDC, 16FDC, or 64FDC floppy disk controller
o   CDOS 2.XX operating system

Supported Drive Types
o    Shugart-compatible 8” drives (with stepper motor actuators)
o   Persci-compatible 8” drives with voicecoil actuators (not supported on the 64FDC)
o    5-1/4” minidisk drives
o   1- and 2-sided diskettes (The 4FDC only supports 1-sided drives)
o    Single and double density diskettes (The 4FDC only supports single density drives)

Key Features
o    Position control of the read/write head (seeks) using either step commands or voicecoil control
o    Sequential seeks between multiple tracks, useful for alignment operations
o    Whole-track pattern-write command specifically for tuning the read channel and data separator
o    Track ID command to identify the track number, sector size, and density
o    Sector read and write commands that include controlling and observing the Deleted Data Marks
o    Data buffer editing, so you can create or edit any sector’s data
o    Spindle motor on/off (for drives with motor control input)
o    Head load/unload control
o    Track 0 sensor monitoring
o    write protect sensor monitoring
o    Persci drive remote-eject control

Here is the executable:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-XdfCubTNJJaXZiYkJhSDloNTA/edit?usp=sharing

Here is the user's manual:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-XdfCubTNJJSUZCSUpFdU1oanM/edit?usp=sharing

And here is the source code:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-XdfCubTNJJdzEyRndLS09nSkE/edit?usp=sharing

Also If you need to repair and/or align a Persci 277 disk drive, I've written an extensive document that tells you how to do so. It is a combination of plagiarized pictures & text from the Processor Technology documentation, and a fair bit from my own experience rebuilding these cool old drives. This document assumes you are using Flexer on a CDOS machine.

Download the Persci 277 repair and adjustment document here:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-XdfCubTNJJSnliVmpPTWVxaW8/edit?usp=sharing

[Martin Eberhard]

...And here is the Persci alignment document as a pdf file

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-XdfCubTNJJWnc0NDVHR2dTaFE/edit?usp=sharing

-Martin

[Keith]

Thanks Martin, It looks like a nice utility and now I have a reason to power the old girl(cromemco) up again.

[Martin Eberhard]

Give it a try - let me know what you think.

you might also want to grab my CDOS XMODEM program - it's an excellent way to move software in/out of your Cromemco machine.

XMODEM executable is here:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-XdfCubTNJJcmtvZFZDb3g1RE0/edit?usp=sharing

XMODEM source code is here:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-XdfCubTNJJNVU2dHJFeHpMQm8/edit?usp=sharing

Cheers,

Martin

On Fri, Mar 29, 2013 at 8:00 AM, Keith <khar...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks Martin, It looks like a nice utility and now I have a reason to power the old girl(cromemco) up again.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cromemco" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cromemco+u...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to crom...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cromemco?hl=en.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
 
 

[MikeS]

Not much spare time these days, but will check them out ASAP; thanks, Martin.

 

mike

[Martin Eberhard]

New version of my Persci adjustment document. Mainly, a new little section on re-packing the lubricant in the voicecoil bearings


https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-XdfCubTNJJX0otVi1BU3A2SDA/edit?usp=sharing

[Martin Eberhard]

Sorry - here's the correct link:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-XdfCubTNJJUkcyUjEtdW0wUDA/edit?usp=sharing

[Martin Eberhard]

I'm not sure anyone reads these, and I get the feeling that I am the last guy interested in these cool old Persci drives on Cromemco machines...

I recently restored a much newer Persci 277 drive (serial number around 17,000). This drive had an LED instead of an incandescent bulb in the positioner servo. I learned that the adjustment procedure for this drive is slightly different than for drives with incandescent bulbs, because the LED operates at a lower voltage than the bulbs do.

I've updated my Persci 277 adjustment document to reflect this variation of the Persci 277. The new version is here:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-XdfCubTNJJeW5UdjVyWGdxUXM/edit?usp=sharing

And, my Flexer program is really great for getting these drives working. I am not sure how you would restore one of the Persci drives on a Cromemco machine without Flexer. Here's the link to Flexer, in case you missed it earlier:


Source code:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-XdfCubTNJJdzEyRndLS09nSkE/edit?usp=sharing

Executable:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-XdfCubTNJJaXZiYkJhSDloNTA/edit?usp=sharing

-Martin

[Martin Eberhard]

Here's an updated version of Flexer, the Floppy Disk Drive Exerciser for CDOS. This version (2.03) has a couple of user interface improvements over the previous version.

The user's manual:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-XdfCubTNJJRG5HZFlYTlpZYkU/edit?usp=sharing

The Source Code:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-XdfCubTNJJdHRmMWNoVUdHNE0/edit?usp=sharing

And the CDOS executable:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-XdfCubTNJJTFdZcG44dERwX2M/edit?usp=sharing

-Martin

[MikeS]

Hi Martin,

 

I no longer have any Perscis (great drives when they worked), just TM848s, but I also certainly read (and save) your messages and programs; looking forward to trying out your Xmodem next time I fire up one of the Cromemcos.

 

Thank you!

 

mike

----- Original Message -----

From: Martin Eberhard

To: crom...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Friday, May 17, 2013 10:26 AM

Subject: Re: Floppy Drive Exerciser CDOS Program

--

[Marcus Bennett]

martin,

Yes I  am following your posts with interest but for me the google links go into 'infinite redirect' and I can't download anything. 

Anybody else with this issue?

regards marcus

[Martin Eberhard]

That's interesting - I'd like to understand why. These documents are posted in Google Drive - they should work well with these Google Forums. Do you perhaps have a cookie issue with Google? What happens if you cut the link and paste it directly into your browser's address bar?

-Martin

[MikeS]

Worked for me, but I did have to log in to Google.

 

mike

----- Original Message -----

From: Marcus Bennett

To: crom...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Monday, May 20, 2013 3:46 AM

Subject: Re: Floppy Drive Exerciser CDOS Program

[Marcus Bennett]

Martin,

Okay problem solved with your document links ...

Well I pasted the links into Firefox and was able to successfully download

However on ALL version of chrome that I use, production and Canary (29.0.1512 today)  I can view your documents, however when a download is initiated I get the precise error

Google Drive

The app is currently unreachable

I did of course try pasting the links directly into the address bar, but does not help with downloading.

Whilst in firefox I am not logged on to my Google account etc.

[Martin Eberhard]

Well that's just really weird. This is Google docs, google groups fro Cromemco, google's own browser. It sure sounds like google has something broken!

Martin