ATR-8000 (and other) CP/M System disks here

[scitari]

Love the ATR8000 posts. Keep them coming!

[Jeffrey Worley]

On 11/9/2017 at 5:17 PM, mechanerd said:

I have two ATR 8000 boxes with 64KB handed down from my mentor in the 1980s. They ran the disk drives , modem and printer for the Action Annex BBS in Vancouver, WA. They were trick devices considering the alternative of hanging a daisy chain of SIO devices to do the same thing. There is a web site that has schematics and the ATR manual can be found online. The guy is in Bratislavia and documented more about all the disk drives in one blog than ever seen before.
http://blog.3b2.sk/igi/post/ATR-8000.aspx All sorts of goodies on this site.

My current problem resurrecting them is the power supply design was not the best.
The 22 VAC transformer and it's so called bridge filtercap/regulation worked, albeit it was not designed for 20 years of operation. It did last 8 years for the BBS. I remember one of the ATRs blew a pair of voltage regulators out once, and was replaced.

One of the ATR machines worked and the other has logic gates going from a probe ,but is not communicating on the sio port anymore. I patched in +12V and +5 from a PC supply and got one working for about an hour.
Why would I want to wake up this bit of coolness from the BBS world?
I was gifted 400 floppies of double sided, double density format disks with probably 1000-2000 MIDI files typed in by my mentor's wife. They are unique and copies of public domain songs in MIDI format that can still be played on todays synthesizers or your emulated ones on the PC. Two of the MIDI files ended up as demo files on the Windows 95 CDROM release my Microsoft. Bill Gates used to visit the BBS and download them.
I have the actual drives used to write the disks, about 5-6 5.5.25" drives, so I know alignment issues won't be a problem.
I'm leery of trying to just buy a XF551 drive and take my chances losing data.
So, anyone an expert on finding glitches on a truly neat board? All the chips are labeled on the board. It needs sockets.
I have a spare board with eproms that read, one spare z-80 and likely just need to xray the board and find the short in it. The ram was recycled from some other project and was installed. I can see where someone has used the 4264s with wire wrap on another Atari 800. The ram bank and the z-80 went thermal and quit.

I even tried putting back in the stock 16KB ram and set the jumpers to see if that would get it working to no avail.
Both boards are REV C. Which was the latest I think. The eproms have code version 3.02 written on the labels.

I never really got into using CP/M for an OS, as I was chasing IBM PC sales and programming after 1986 or so.

Anyone spare a true DSDD drive for a loan or know where I can get the controller parts cheap if I can't bless this mess of two boards?
I have an several 800s, and some spare parts to trade for a controller for the drives. ?

I am also looking into an ISA IBM pc floppy controller of the vintage with the use of the atarisd.exe app. which might not read dsdd anyway.

Meanwhile, the other Atari 800s were sold at auction to fund some of this recovery project and a few Kindle Fire tablets for the homeless shelter in Vancouver, WA.

ideas?

I will take a crack at the ATR8000's in need of repair.  I can do no harm and probably a lot of good.  I know the device well, and have one I recently repaired and refurbished, so I'm 'current' as well.  If you want to spend shipping, let me know.  I'm all for trades, love toys, so labor won't be a problem.

 

Best,

 

Jeff

[_The Doctor__]

On 7/31/2020 at 9:25 AM, Jeffrey Worley said:

I will take a crack at the ATR8000's in need of repair.  I can do no harm and probably a lot of good.  I know the device well, and have one I recently repaired and refurbished, so I'm 'current' as well.  If you want to spend shipping, let me know.  I'm all for trades, love toys, so labor won't be a problem.

 

Best,

 

Jeff

last heard he threw them out... kinda made me feel sadness... yes it was sickening sadness...

[Jeffrey Worley]

1 hour ago, _The Doctor__ said:

last heard he threw them out... kinda made me feel sadness... yes it was sickening sadness...

Wow.  Well he can kick himself TWICE.  A complete one sold for 620.00 on ebay the other day.

 

Jeff

[Caterpiggle]

Anyone who know how to using CP/M daughtercard on Indus GT Disk Drive ? I can't figure out how to make work on my Atari 800XL with Indus GT with CP/M small card ? Anyone ?

[Jeffrey Worley]

8 hours ago, Caterpiggle said:

Anyone who know how to using CP/M daughtercard on Indus GT Disk Drive ? I can't figure out how to make work on my Atari 800XL with Indus GT with CP/M small card ? Anyone ?

So you have the sram card for your Indus?  That is cool.  I haven't got one of those.  The CP/M board for the Indus was pretty much a Unicorn back in the 80's.  Everyone had heard of it but no one had actually seen one.  What trouble are you having?

 

Best,

 

Jeff

[_The Doctor__]

9 hours ago, Caterpiggle said:

Anyone who know how to using CP/M daughtercard on Indus GT Disk Drive ? I can't figure out how to make work on my Atari 800XL with Indus GT with CP/M small card ? Anyone ?

 

1) Make an Indus RAM Charger 40/80 Col. Terminal disk www.retrobits.net/atari/indus.shtml

2) Boot your Atari with the terminal diskette in the drive

3) After DOS XL has booted, run E.COM for 80-column terminal or F.COM for a 40-column terminal

 

a) Insert the CP/M system diskette into the drive

b) While holding down the Drive type button on the indus, press Error button

c) A message of Indus CP/M and a request for pressing Return will appear on the screen. If nothing happens, there is probably bad memory or the system disk is not correct and will need to either be fixed (boot fix util) or replaced.

d) After pressing Return, the CP/M command prompt should appear (A>)

 

Now you can issue DIR to obtain a list of files on the disk or any other cp/m commands you wish to execute on a given disk...

 

pretty much the same using trub term

Edited August 7, 2020 by _The Doctor__

[sup8pdct]

On 8/7/2020 at 10:25 PM, _The Doctor__ said:

 

1) Make an Indus RAM Charger 40/80 Col. Terminal disk www.retrobits.net/atari/indus.shtml

2) Boot your Atari with the terminal diskette in the drive

3) After DOS XL has booted, run E.COM for 80-column terminal or F.COM for a 40-column terminal

 

a) Insert the CP/M system diskette into the drive

b) While holding down the Drive type button on the indus, press Error button

c) A message of Indus CP/M and a request for pressing Return will appear on the screen. If nothing happens, there is probably bad memory or the system disk is not correct and will need to either be fixed (boot fix util) or replaced.

d) After pressing Return, the CP/M command prompt should appear (A>)

 

Now you can issue DIR to obtain a list of files on the disk or any other cp/m commands you wish to execute on a given disk...

 

pretty much the same using trub term

One important step is to get a proper indus CP/M boot disk. http://trub.atari8.info/index.php?ref=indus_cpm_en has important info to create a working one

 

James

[moonlight_mile]

Hey guys,
I have an ATR with some issues. I have been working with Jeff (Worley) on getting it up and running.

My main focus is getting the floppy drives working. I have replaced all the caps but it still seems to have some issues.

Basically, the drive lights with light up but it never initialized the drive. (No head movement).
I have tried a number of drives, checked the cables, etc. All the normal stuff. It is set up as an Atari peripheral, not an Rs232 terminal.

I thought the z80 May have been the problem so I ordered one. Got it and it was worse than before, so either the “new”z80 was dead or a fake. (The screen print looks a little to new so I think it was a fake ). I did order another one but that hasn’t arrived yet.

Jeff suggested I try getting into the ATRMON to see if it is doing anything. After a few failed attempts I got the ATRMON to come up. I didn’t have any real commands to test but I did try the “m” command and it started spitting out memory locations. So it is doing something. (I put the original z80 back in).

So... it seems the RS232 seems to be ok. Playing around further I thought maybe try replacing the fdc1797. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find any on eBay or anywhere else. I also noticed that U46 and u53 were getting warm. None of the other chips (besides the z80) were warming up. So, I stumbled on this thread.

I looked at U46 and u53 and they don’t seem to be regular 74 series logic chips.

First off. What are u46 and u53? Seems from some of the replies in this thread they might be some type of EPROMs. Can these actually be replaced? Does anyone have any idea where I might be able to find an FDC1797 and those other two chips (or replacement chips)?

I attached pics of u46 and u53.

One last query. I have a 16 sticker on the back of the unit which I am assuming was put there to indicate a 16k model, however, I am pretty sure the jumpers are set for 64k. How can I tell how much memory is installed on my unit? I included a pic of my memory banks.

Thanks for any and all help!

[AtariGeezer]

u53 MC1488 is a RS-232 line driver, opposite of the the MC1489.

 

Problem with the drives could be a bad Floppy Controller and/or the drive buffer chips like what happened to mine...

[+warerat]

I ordered an FD1797 from here a few years ago, don't know if they still have any: https://www.unicornelectronics.com/IC/CRT.html

 

U46 is a bi-polar PROM that loads the counter for the data separator and it does run hot.

[cwilbar]

The 82S##... chip(s) are bipolar proms.  These are like EPROMs but much smaller in capacity and IIRC they are usually faster (at least faster than EPROMs of the same era).

 

Hopefully non of the 82S## chips are bad.  If they are, you'll need to source a blank chip, someone who can program it, and a copy of the contents of a good chip.

 

 

[moonlight_mile]

I ordered an FD1797 from here a few years ago, don't know if they still have any: https://www.unicornelectronics.com/IC/CRT.html
 
U46 is a bi-polar PROM that loads the counter for the data separator and it does run hot.

Phew! I really don’t want to have to start unsoldering chips if I don’t have to.

Ok I order two 1797s and a few 2732s (needed a $30 order for). So hopefully this will solve my problems. Will keep you guys informed.

Thanks again everyone for your help!

[moonlight_mile]

u53 MC1488 is a RS-232 line driver, opposite of the the MC1489.
 
Problem with the drives could be a bad Floppy Controller and/or the drive buffer chips like what happened to mine...

Which chips are the drive buffers?

[AtariGeezer]

5 hours ago, moonlight_mile said:

Which chips are the drive buffers?

Those are 7406 Hex Buffers that connect between the 1797 and floppy port, I used 7416's instead.

[moonlight_mile]

Those are 7406 Hex Buffers that connect between the 1797 and floppy port, I used 7416's instead.

Gotcha. When I get my new controller chips if that doesn’t solve the issue I will look at those. (Probably need some help but I’ll cross that bridge as they say).

Oh did you know how I can tell how much memory I have in my Unit?

[Jeffrey Worley]

You have 64k.  I can't read the chip markings, but the fact that you are getting an ATRMON prompt and the jumper settings on the board tell me 64k.  If you had these jumper settings with 16k you would not have a working machine.

[moonlight_mile]

You have 64k.  I can't read the chip markings, but the fact that you are getting an ATRMON prompt and the jumper settings on the board tell me 64k.  If you had these jumper settings with 16k you would not have a working machine.

Thanks. Buddy. It just dawned on me the other day when I saw the 16 sticker and I knew the jumpers were set for 64.

[moonlight_mile]

While we are on the subject and I am waiting for my chips. Does anyone know what happened to Software Publishers,inc? (SWP). I can google the address and it appears that the building is still in Arlington but couldn’t dig up any info on what happened to the company?

I know there is a little webpage for Percom and their background but nuttin’ for ol’ SWP.

[Jeffrey Worley]

13 hours ago, moonlight_mile said:

While we are on the subject and I am waiting for my chips. Does anyone know what happened to Software Publishers,inc? (SWP). I can google the address and it appears that the building is still in Arlington but couldn’t dig up any info on what happened to the company?

I know there is a little webpage for Percom and their background but nuttin’ for ol’ SWP.

Funny, because SWP was pretty pervasive in the CP/M machine market.  They had the ATR8000 of course, but they had the Copower88 that went into a bunch of different CP/M boxen.  Kaypro and Morrow had them as factory options. So it is a bit odd how obscure they remain.  I was interested to note that 22disk DOES support an ATR8000 format.  I think it is ssdd 40 track, but still, it is there.  There's no Wiki article on the ATR8000 either.

 

Jeff

[moonlight_mile]

Wow. I didn’t know that about their CP/m exposure. Yeah, when you search for software publishers you get a slew of recent companies. Lol. I guess we could request government information about them with the freedom of info act. Maybe I will look into that.

I mean I never had an atr in the 80s. I was a Percom guy but now that I have one I’d love to find out info about them. I coveted one. Lol.

I know the 8-bit guy is doing a run of episodes of all Texas tech companies. Maybe they will show up in his videos.

[tschak909]

SWP also made a double density disk controller for a few CP/M machines.

[AtariGeezer]

On 8/17/2020 at 6:23 AM, moonlight_mile said:

Phew! I really don’t want to have to start unsoldering chips if I don’t have to.

Ok I order two 1797s and a few 2732s (needed a $30 order for). So hopefully this will solve my problems. Will keep you guys informed.

Thanks again everyone for your help!

Did you order sockets also?

[moonlight_mile]

Did you order sockets also?

Those are already socketed. If I have to order the buffers I will order some sockets. Keeping my fingers crossed.

My chips should have been here yesterday but with all the shenanigans going on with the USPS I have to wait until Monday.

[moonlight_mile]

SUCCESS! The new 1797 brought the drives to life!

Now it does not like to play nice with spartados 3.2d. But I did get the drive to format in Atari dos 2.0. So it is clearly working.

Sadly all the blanks I got a few years ago are starting to flake out. Probably tired of me running them through all my Percom drives. I found some ds/hd disks but those don’t want to format. I am guessing the hd disks just aren’t compat with regular 180/360/720k drives. I’ll have to look for some new old stock ds/dd disks.

Did the ATR ever work properly with spartados 3.2d? I did play around with it in mydos 4.x.

So now I am going to have to decide what kinda of drives I want to use. I gotta find ones that work as I have 4 full height paperweights.