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Horizon RAMdisk ROS and CFG Development


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Do either of the Horizon CFG/ROS programs allocate disk buffer in VDP?

 

The ROS assumes the disk buffer has already been allocated by your main floppy disk controller, as such if you run ROS without a ti or myarc or corcomp controller you run into problems because the disk buffer is not allocated.

 

Other then that use ROS uses the vdp as workspace, assuming the your main disk controller has allocated it normally and correctly.

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  • 5 months later...

I have a question about HRD. I have a small one 256K , when i shut the pbox down it corrupts the first partition. It always (now) drops the first letter of the ramdisk name on that first partition. The files appear intact , turning it on and off. But the name always looses the first letter. The ramdisk passes all the tests when powered. I'm using it with 8.14f , the configuration test 5 shows the problem (it's the only one). When writing to it and then shutting it down and running the read test it errors. It comes up with a binary address - I think translated to 88 or 89 is this the rack#

I know the "racks" are in 2k chunks but how do I match that info to which of the multiple of stacked chips are on the board.

I'd like to avoid pulling and swapping chips and testing one stack at a time.

 

Is there a DOC on using that test?

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  • 9 months later...

I have updated the Ramdisk configuration program (CFG) to detect a few more devices. I could use a few beta testers to help me determine if the IDE, SCSI, HFDC, and HDX devices are now properly identified. A Ramdisk is not required but you should have a PEB-based system.

 

The latest CFG and ROS now incorporate the same CRC error detection found in the Geneve OS. When loading ROS, if the file has been corrupted or modified CFG will cancel the load operation, preserving the existing ROS. RAMBO memory pages have been capped at 255 x 8K pages to correspond with the internal page map. (RAMBO ramdisks with more than 2MB would exceed the page table size, overwriting ROS in the process. Not cool. I do not have any RAMBO ramdisks, so I have been unable to confirm the fix works properly.)

 

There is also a strong probability we can return to one unified ROS in the future. The VDP-based filename and drive number boot tracking has been disabled since ROS8.14F and since it has been OK for 20+ years, I plan to eliminate the code and the need for ROSTI / ROSMYARK unless I find (or hear) otherwise. This is the only difference between the two ROS DSRs other than the filename.

 

The secondary VDP-based drive number tracking mechanism will remain, written only if x8370 points to a VDP location below its destination address.

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I have updated the Ramdisk configuration program (CFG) to detect a few more devices. I could use a few beta testers to help me determine if the IDE, SCSI, HFDC, and HDX devices are now properly identified. A Ramdisk is not required but you should have a PEB-based system.

 

The latest CFG and ROS now incorporate the same CRC error detection found in the Geneve OS. When loading ROS, if the file has been corrupted or modified CFG will cancel the load operation, preserving the existing ROS. RAMBO memory pages have been capped at 255 x 8K pages to correspond with the internal page map. (RAMBO ramdisks with more than 2MB would exceed the page table size, overwriting ROS in the process. Not cool. I do not have any RAMBO ramdisks, so I have been unable to confirm the fix works properly.)

 

There is also a strong probability we can return to one unified ROS in the future. The VDP-based filename and drive number boot tracking has been disabled since ROS8.14F and since it has been OK for 20+ years, I plan to eliminate the code and the need for ROSTI / ROSMYARK unless I find (or hear) otherwise. This is the only difference between the two ROS DSRs other than the filename.

 

The secondary VDP-based drive number tracking mechanism will remain, written only if x8370 points to a VDP location below its destination address.

 

i'll help you out.

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Gazoo noticed the AVPC and HSGPL were not detected; he provided the info I needed and I have sent an update to him for testing. I also poked around at the SNUG site and have added the BwG, Speech, and EVPC cards based on their current DSRs.

 

Anyone else have suggestions or confirmation CFG is working (so far)?

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I noticed on the Horizon RAMdisk that the address is at 1500, which is the same as what the second RS-232 card uses. Does the Horizon RAMdisk have a jumper or dip switch to use an alternate address?

 

Yes, multiple addresses. Pick one that fits your system, I chose the first available after the used addresses. Look at the docs, it's one of the first decisions you make.

Edited by Gazoo
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Normally the Horizon is at >1000 and HFDC or SCSI is at >1200

 

When I had a Corcomp RAMDISK and Horizon I put them at >1600 and >1000 and my SCSI was at >1200

 

There is no 'normal' address for a Horizon. It can be anywhere you choose to put it. IMHO >1000 is the worst possible place to put it. It should be above all the other devices that respond as 'DSKx".

 

 

Gazoo

Edited by Gazoo
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The Insane One is a genius. :)

 

CFG has never identified my cards correctly until today.

 

Now it does.

 

 

Gazoo

Thanks Gazoo, a picture is worth 1024 bytes. ;) Thanks Atrax for confirming the BWG is detected properly.

 

I'll post the updated CFG here soon. I might even post ROS832a (with the CRC installed and the VDP writes removed) for some further testing.

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There is no 'normal' address for a Horizon. It can be anywhere you choose to put it. IMHO >1000 is the worst possible place to put it. It should be above all the other devices that respond as 'DSKx".

 

 

Gazoo

Hmm why I used it 10 times more then any other device?

 

I ran the GPL Compiler on the Horizion and was way faster then the SCSI or DSK controller.

 

Also I had DSKA. to DSKH. drives so this really required less manual searching anything unless backups to SCSI.

 

I really liked this set up for speed and no need to search for stuff.

Edited by RXB
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I sent a similar note to the (s)lumbering Yahoo groups... ;)

 

Did anyone here receive or purchase John Johnson's hardware and software in 2001 and later in 2004? Seems he had most of his source with one or both sales, yet to this date I'm not aware of anyone releasing it. I suppose the purchasers may not even know what the had(have).

 

In lieu of that, I have been searching for MENU 7.39 source. The version 7 source is too different... and I've had enough disassembly work this month ;)

Edited by InsaneMultitasker
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  • 2 weeks later...

So far no one has contacted me regarding John Johnson's software or hardware, not that I expect any miracles ;)

 

Now the "good news".

 

I have nearly completed reconstituting the disassembled MENU 7.39 program into commented, compilable source code. With this the full source to the Horizon software trio - ROS, CFG, and MENU - will be available and current.

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