wierd_w

I use Cura as well. One thing I kinda want to try some day, is to print some "channels" in the back of some copper-clad perfboard for making a clean wire-wrap style circuit card. (Basically, components go on one side, wires on the other. The side that gets the wires gets 3D printed on, to create "retention channels" to hold the wires in place, neat and tidy.)

Does it make any odd noises? "chirping" and "shuffling" is OK, but clunking, scraping, and banging are not. (Since DM was able to write a scsi driver onto the disk, I think this is not a termination issue, but it is having read/write errors, which either means damaged platter, or sticky actuator. I think you should try to rule out sticky actuator with some good lube and revisit the "wont initialize" problem.)

OOOOOOh.... This is a REAL old drive-- It has a stepper based head actuator. Try a small amount of lubricant on the shaft of the stepper motor.

Presumably, one can install some little resistor packs on either the controller or the drive. I would check to see if those have been damaged or dislodged.

I was thinking more 1D barcodes that can be grabbed with a linear scanner actually... QR needs a gun. There are "unloved" linear scanners that can be put in-line with a PS2 keyboard that would be perfect for this, that can be had very cheaply from ebay. Like this butt-ugly cuecat. It plugs into the PS2 port, and the PS2 keyboard plugs into the other part of the pigtail. Thus your PS2 mod could drive both without any issue, and you could grab the thing and scan cardstock emblazoned with your 1D barcodes (that thing knows how to read a few dozen kinds), which would let you put in basic programs fast, or fire off console-fu very fast. There's simple fonts that can be used to produce the barcodes with, using basically any word processor. https://www.dafont.com/barcode-font.font

Miniscribe was a manufacturer back in the day. IIRC, they got bought out first by Maxstor, then Seagate. What I am reading about that drive from Tularc, is that it does need termination. Probably need one of these passive terminators. https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-INTERNAL-SCSI-TERMINATOR-PASSIVE-50-PIN-FOR-INTERNAL-SCSI-/303498916019

Similar offer from newegg? https://www.neweggbusiness.com/product/product.aspx?item=9siv0bm2w58865&bri=9siv1tf7cd4931

No, but I have a very nice wall wart one that has a molded molex connector. (and came with a sata converter pigtail). It came with a very inexpensive USB bridge. https://www.walmart.com/ip/SATA-PATA-IDE-Drive-to-USB-2-0-Adapter-Converter-Cable-for-2-5-3-5-Inch-Hard-Drive-5-inch-Optical-Drive-with-External-AC-Power-Adapter/706363896?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=4473&&adid=22222222227147481895&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=256531970280&wl4=pla-476561081487&wl5=9024386&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=113537598&wl11=online&wl12=706363896&veh=sem&gclid=Cj0KCQjwpZT5BRCdARIsAGEX0zn9L7XJQudllJpKmE9OU5KLmv4kc0bJ0emTPSoHZxstS1YSK2K0blYaAt10EALw_wcB (not the one I have, but a similar product.) Here's just the power adapter from amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Okgear-100-240v-Power-Supply-Connector/dp/B015HV59FW/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1WCQRH3KPR6JD&dchild=1&keywords=molex+to+wall+outlet&qid=1596342748&sprefix=molex+wall+outlet%2Caps%2C180&sr=8-3

Some drives are presumed able to self-terminate on the scsi bus, but this is done by backfeeding voltage onto the termination pins, rather than adding an inline resistor. It may be possible that this has been damaged on your drive, (or for whatever reason is not being read properly). If your internal scsi cable has more than one 50pin connector on it, consider jamming one of these on the end, and see if that fixes it.

It could very well be a termination issue...

Other memory cards... Super expensive bocaram AT with 30pin simm slots https://www.ebay.com/itm/Boca-Research-Bocaram-1945-BRAT90-Memory-Expansion-Card/324228765397?hash=item4b7d8a56d5:g:CUsAAOSwP~RfDNbM

Mt Everything. https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/mt-everything-155 FWB HD Toolkit https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/fwb-hard-disk-toolkit-452 Anubis https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/anubis-utility-v25 Drive7 https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/drive7-lite-235 StorWare https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/storware-301 MicroNet's Utility http://www.jwgdesign.com/macsupport/micronet/MicroNet_Utility_v727.hqx

Ever seen 8088 corruption? It leverages the soundblaster's IRQ and DMA function to syncronize all its craycray. More practical: The later commander keen games would be fully playable. Several CRPGs from the era (like wizardry 6) would be fully playable. I would see about getting an intel above-board in there too. (or something similar, like this bocaram) https://www.ebay.com/itm/BOCARAM-AT-16-bit-memory-Expansion-Card-w-Manual-Software/143670277085?hash=item21736a73dd:g:2NQAAOSwY6lfGJLc Sadly, you only have 1 8bit slot, and 1 16bit slot free. In which case, I would go for the 8bit soundblaster 2.0, and the above board. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-AZTECH-8-bit-isa-sound-card/324247866119?hash=item4b7eadcb07:g:iDUAAOSwRsJek13l&autorefresh=true

Mt Everything?

While more expensive, there are actually jumpered soundblaster cards out there. That's what I would get for this machine. exhibit A https://www.ebay.com/itm/Creative-Labs-Sound-Blaster-16-ISA-Sound-Card-CT2700-Works/203063349225?hash=item2f4784cfe9:g:pLsAAOSwI-5fI~iu Exhibit B https://www.ebay.com/itm/Creative-Labs-CT2260-Vibra16-Sound-Blaster-ISA-Sound-Card/323950772401?epid=1838637799&hash=item4b6cf880b1:g:N8kAAOSwaZddqK-8 Those are straight up jumper controlled, and need no drivers whatsoever (except for windows). Those just straight up work after setting the blaster variable. Since this system is very memory constrained, (and is old as hell), it's what I would spec to put in there.

Yes there is. Scroll down.

Basilisk II yo! It's a native app! It weighs in at a fraction of the disk space, supports mac CDroms (and floppies if your machine has the drive!), can do SCSI passthrough, and all kinds of bells and whistles. You should totally use it instead if you want to play a graphically demanding game.

Or, for a different (less rose colored glasses approach), what was MOST COMMONLY present on a system from that period. Most people that used an Apple II, probably used it in school, so the MECC library seems apropos, for instance. For DOS systems, Some old terminal software, some shareware disks, DOS 6.22 (or an older version, if this an ancient machine), and pals, with win3x (if it can do it)-- etc. Go ahead and showcase the warts; it was part of the experience.

We need some chill in here. As for a silly idea for integration-- If you have one of those USB (or PS2) keyboard mods installed, dropping in a barcode scanner is just as easy as plugging the silly thing in. There are several on Ebay that require no drivers at all, and just send keyboard scancodes for what they have read in, down the line like they were keystrokes. It would be possible to do the "extended basic program as page of barcodes" thing this way, or even "arcane console fu as barcode" thing.

scroll down to the downloads section.

Awesome! Now you just need some kind of sound hardware for it other then the PC Speaker, and you are golden!

CD-ROM is read only. CD-R is indeed recordable. Unless Bernoulli decided to ditch industry naming. (which it appears they did NOT)

I DO have a large format printer you know... >:) (I could totally make a run of these, and similar, as gag christmas gifts in full poster size, on shiny paper.)

Hush you-- or I will start making it a point to send you commodore merch for christmas. (just teasting, not actually serious.)

I just looked-- the cards are still too tall to orient in that direction aesthetically. Sad. BUT-- I promised pictures. Here they are. Again, the nylon is not the best material for this, and I DID NOT bake the nylon first, so there's some ugly printing here. This is just to test fitting really, not to make salable enclosures with. Very little (if any) effort was taken to clean up the prints after pulling them off the bed. The warping I was mentioning is very apparent. The recesses in the bottom are there for 2 purposes. 1), reduce material consumption, and 2, Reduce thermal stress to attempt to reduce warping. (less material to exert force with!) Still, that is the full RF shield in there!