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I have formatted disks on the Myarc controller - no problem. Yes, I have two modd'd TI controllers. One with the Guion mod, the other with th 80 track mod. Both will not format the Lotharek, or even a SSSD floppy in a physical TI floppy drive. (DSK1 and DSK2 are both Lotharek emulators, DSK3 is a genuine external TI SSSD Shugart drive.) When I had back to Manila in Dec - I am going to bring some of the .HFE files to see if I can format them with the Myarc.

I'll give it a shot - I have two disk controllers and have the same issue, and have a real SSSD drive - all the same. Have swapped the console - only thing left is the firehose. I'll give it a try!

Yep - love the Myarc 80 track DDCC-1, keep hoping someone will reverse engineer a SCSI card or decent floppy controller. Or even better - put a small Linux machine on the expansion bus that does everything...

Downloaded it - can save, delete files - can also rename the disk. John Birdwalls disk util 4.2 will verify all sectors. (0-059F) No 3rd party util with format the file, and Disk Manager 2.1 comes back with a Disk Error 43. (whatever that means)

Nope - and I ran the update to get it to the latest revision - same problem. I am using PEB, 32K, TI w 80 track mod and P-Code. Stock console.

Hi All, Trying to create solid disk images - debugging why both my controllers (both TI, one 40 track with Guion ROM, the other 80 track ROM) can't seem to format any sort of floppy. (real or Lotharek image) I can read / write, update, relabel - everything but format. I am beginning to suspect the firehose - does that make any sense? 32K RAM tests OK. In the meanwhile, I was hoping someone could look at this and suggest the right parameters for DSSD and SSSD 40 and 80 track images. Here is the form I am trying to guess at... I am currently using tiDir to make workable diskette images - which I can do anything with but reformat. I do not have this problem on my other system with the Myarc controller. Sort of lost on this one! :/ Thoughts??? Cheers, Arthur...

I can format disks on the Lotharek with my Myarc controller - DS/DD 80 track - no issues. Can't seem to make that work with a DSSD 80 Track TI controller. Otherwise, everything else works just fine.

Try swapping consoles. I have found with my P-Code card that with the "shiny pretty console" it fails about half the time - weird errors and such. If I swap it out with "ugly scratched up console" it works like a champ every time. I have had strange problems in the past that seemed like it should be PEB centered but turned out to be the computer itself.

hahaha - I went through similar drama in the Philippines - though I was bringing in parts and building out a system there. Still have my place in Manila, with a very nice TI setup - now that I am spending much more time in the US am building one for use here. I don't think I'll ever be able to move any of the stuff in Manila out though - cash, stuff - when it comes to the Philippines it's pretty much a one way adventure.

Here is the semi-final install - still a minor bit of adjustment but that can come after I figure out why I can do everything but format disks (images) in the Lotharek.

I'll bid on the memory card - I have a bad one and don't really know how to repair. Need a working spare...

I will update! 5.4b... ugh!

I have used ti image tool to make disk images - same issue though, can read, write, delete files, and so on but can't init the image. Never had this issue with the Myarc controller.

Sadly, ti99dir won't make dssd 80 track disk images...

Hi All, Have a TI controller with the 80 track mod in it and 2 Lotharek drives. Trying to sort out which images to run / get predictable working diskette images built would be so much easier if I knew which sets of roms were in the controller. I think I have 80 track DSSD on 1 and 2. I can read and write to diskette images but not format them... Any ideas??? Is it possible to dump the roms without a programmer and compare? Cheers, Arthur... --- This is a modification for the TI Disk Controller card which enables the use of 80 track drives for a total of 1440 sectors per 80 track drive. There are several configurations available. Please distribute this archive freely. Tony Knerr 07-15-01 The files in this archive are as follows: readme.txt This file. 80trackti.doc Instructions for installing 80 track eproms on the TI disk controller card. 80t1r1.bin Replacement for U26, 80 track drives on 2&3, 40 track on drive 1. 80t1r2.bin Replacement for U27, partner to 80t1r1.bin. 80t3r1.bin Replacement for U26, 80 track drives on 1&2, 40 track on drive 3. 80t3r2.bin Replacement for U27, partner to 80t3r1.bin. 40tk1.bin Original TI rom U26. 40tk2.bin Original TI rom U27. *end*

Hey Gents, Having a heck of a time figuring out how to make blank disks that the TI controller with this mod http://www.mainbyte.com/ti99/upgrade/upgrade.html likes when using the Lotharek. I can make disks that read, and I can write files to them, but can't init them. Get disk error 16's. Any ideas? Cheers, Arthur...

Hi All, Thought I'd share the process of building out a PEB. Certainly not news to anyone but I suspect we all solve some problems differently. Here is my solution to a really nice dual 3.5 in device cage for the disk drive bay in the PEB. 12 nuts, 4 2" machine screws. You need to drill out the bottom holes in the metal drive racks to make them a little larger, and remove all metal shaving around the holes for the nuts. Nice aspect of the design is you can thumb-tune it to perfection (height and angle of drives in relation to each other) and then crank it down with a small wrench. This cage will hold 2 Lotharek floppy emulators. Here is what it'll look like with the drives mounted... I'll use a sheet metal drill to make a hole in the PEB cage for the screws. Next task, figure out how to set the switches and make an floppy cable. Given my cable making skills - this will be the hardest part - determining whether I have a crappy cable or the switches set wrong - expect another post in 2017...

x

Hi Kevan - will give that a try. I have a spare... Also, I notice the update is 40 track, and Gazoo asks if you need 80 track to request one... Ahem... Can I just copy the file on the 40 track image to an 80 track image? If it's not the hose - when I might try to run the cart update. Unless, for F18A reasons I should wait...

Reliable storage is something I'd like to see. I've had trouble with HDX, and WDS SCSI working with software that seems designed to work only with floppy drives. I work with large amounts of data - and programs like TI-BASE are 100% reliable when talking to any size storage through a floppy interface but fail in weird random ways when talking to a hard disk or HDX. So a floppy controller that would support DS/QD or HD - or very large volumes like CF7. Cheers, Arthur...

Agreed - I have a Myarc DDCC-1 in my other PEB. In the current system I am building it's a choice between a TI Controller with the Guion ROMS or a TI Controller with the 80 track mod. I'd love to buy a DSDD controller - anyone have one for sale???