AtariLeaf Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 I have an MPI but I keep it safely in it's box. Too many horror stories about damaging a coco with the slightest bump (or sometimes no bump). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_L Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 That's odd, I used one for years and never had an issue. I did have it setup on a flat desk, and the non-skid pads kept both units in place, and I never had an issue once. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 I never had an issue with my MPI either. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted July 9, 2014 Author Share Posted July 9, 2014 I have also used for a long time the Sinclair ZX-81/Timex-Sinclair 1000. ( The ZX-81 was my first Home Computer ) The External RAM Packs are notorious for Crashing the Machine because of Wiggling of the Two Cases.. I never have blown up a Sinclair ( yet ).... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted July 9, 2014 Author Share Posted July 9, 2014 So I plugged my Multi-Pak Interface into my CoCo 2, then Powered it up, then the CoCo.. All seems fine. I did the PEEK Test mention at Cloud 9. And got a "255", ( which is the same value you get if there is NO MPI plugged in... ). I then powered it ALL OFF, plugged in my Three Cartridge Games, StarBlaze, Color Baseball and Demolition Derby. I could switch between the Cartridges and Press RESET and Boot each one.. ( I still haven't plugged anything into Slot #4 ) It looks like I just need the PAL update and I should be Good to Go!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_L Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 I have also used for a long time the Sinclair ZX-81/Timex-Sinclair 1000. ( The ZX-81 was my first Home Computer ) The External RAM Packs are notorious for Crashing the Machine because of Wiggling of the Two Cases.. I never have blown up a Sinclair ( yet ).... Yeah, I admired the ZX-81/Timex Sinclair 1000 for pushing the envelope as far as pricing went. Under $100 bucks was a real achievement, and back in those days, competition was high, and "the book" hadn't been written, so exploration of price points produced units like this. On the other side of the coin, to make it THAT cheap, serious corners were cut and you were left with membrane keyboards that were impossible to type on like a regular typewriter or computer, and wonky connectors like the one used on the RAM expansion pack. Also, base units for C64 and CoCo 2 were dropping from the $400-$500 range down under $200, so people would look at a C64 or CoCo 2 and for ~$200 you got a much better, real, keyboard, more software choices, etc, and people flocked to those machines, and the market settled on that price point until the PC eliminated the "home" computers like c64, apple II, and CoCo. People were using PCs more and more at work, and wanted the same thing at home because they knew how to operate them, and they were more powerful than the home computers. Pricing has reduced a typical PC to around $400-$600 bucks if you're not looking for something special like a high end gaming system, or media systems that do 3D rendering and video editing. Since you've been bit by the CoCo bug, you might want to look into the MC10. The MC10 was a direct response to the Sinclair computer, was only $20 more, and IMO, was leaps and bounds better than the Sinclair for an extra $20 bucks. It sported a Motorola MC6803, the older "uncle" of the 6809 in the CoCo, and used the same MC6847 VDG chip in the CoCo. The MC-10, like the Sinclair, didn't last very long, for the same reasons the SInclair didn't make that far, prices of better machines were continually dropping to the point where the price difference didn't matter that much. As always, both systems had the strong and weak points, and both systems had, and still have their "fan base" of users who either used them back in the day, or have discovered them through the retro movement and or emulation. Anywho, if you're interested in checking out the MC10, here's a like to a browser based version that's really cool. http://mc-10.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 John_L, I agree on the MC-10. I think it was a much better machine than the ZX-80/81,TS-1000 or even the TS-1500 for that matter.With the added color, sound and slightly better keyboard it was definitely worth $20 more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted July 14, 2014 Author Share Posted July 14, 2014 (edited) Well, I got my FD-500 with the J&M Controller... Good News and Bad News...The J&M is the JFD-COCO, but has the Tandy 1.1 DECB ROM, and the CoCo 3 Mod, with a very nice Blue Wire job.. It works great...The FD-500 has external Damage.. The Drive Spins and Seeks, but doesn't seem to Read or Write..Anyone have experience with connecting an Oscilloscope to the Read/Write heads..MarkO Edited July 14, 2014 by MarkO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_L Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 Have you tried cleaning the read/write head. It's not too difficult. You can do it with a screwdriver and some isopropyl alcohol. Remove the 4 or so screws holding the case on and lift it up off the drive, then turn the drive on it's side and make sure the drive door is OPEN. You should be able to easily see and reach the head with a Q-tip whetted down with alcohol. A few swipes on the head will clean it up, and considering that drive sat for years, maybe even decades, it's might just need a cleaning. Take a look at the photo I uploaded and I highlighted the head with a red box to show specifically what it looks like, but you should be able to figure it out just by looking. Give it a good cleaning first, and you might just get lucky.... Good luck! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted July 15, 2014 Author Share Posted July 15, 2014 I actually have some 5.25" and 3.5" Cleaning Disks... Honestly, I never thought to clean the heads.. Wow!! Has it been that long since I used Floppies... But I will disassemble the FD-500 and clean the Head Directly... That way I can observe the operation while it Formats and tries to Read/Write.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_L Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 Great, can't wait to hear the results. Those cleaning kits work pretty well, but we generally would just soak a Q-Tip in the supplied cleaner and do it manually, but I imagine using the disk might work. The Format command in RS-DOS is DSKINI drivenumber. You should be able to run that command as long as verify is off, which it is by default, and it will move the head from track 0 to track 35. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 Wow!! Has it been that long since I used Floppies... Can you imagine the sheer agony if you had to go back to using them 100% of the time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_L Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 Brrraaaapp... tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.... Yeah, it's amazing how you look at things depending on what angle you're looking from. When cassette tape storage was I had, the idea of having (a very expensive) disk drive was all one wished for. Eventually, I saved up enough pennies to get a couple of drives. Once you had drive(s) for a while, and you had several disk cases full of floppies, and floppies strewn about everywhere, All of a sudden the massive amount of storage didn't seem so massive (why do I have hundreds of disks!), and the disk drive which was much more reliable and speedy didn't seem so reliable and speedy anymore, and you begin to want for a hard drive. Now we're at the point where hard drives are fast and hold massive amounts of data, my data drive was $135 bucks and hold 3TB of data. However, hard drives are now becoming the weak link in the chain, so along comes solid state drives. I have a 250 GB SSD for my system drive and BOY is it FAST!!! My computer boots from scratch in 9 seconds, and I typically just put my computer to "sleep" which just dumps a RAM image to disk and then restores the RAM image when I wake it up, which takes about 3 seconds!!!! One of the nice things about vintage computers is that since they booted from ROM into a simple 8 or 16k basic interpreter, boot times were a few miliseconds... "instant on". As systems progressed, boot times got longer and longer, but now with A) improved versions of Windows, and B), my SSD, the days of near instant on boot are nearly back. Now as time goes by, the SSDs will become cheaper and cheaper, and the storage space will get bigger and bigger, I can't wait for the day when 3 TB SSDs cost $150 bucks or less... Personally, I paid $185 bucks for my 250 GB SSD, and $135 for my 3 TB "regular" HD. Look at the cost per Gigabyte... HD 3 TB - $135 or 4.5 cents per Gig SSD 250 GB - $185 or 74 cents per Gig I once paid a buddy $100 bucks for a 100 Meg hard drive, that's a buck / Meg or $1000 per Gig!!! At that price, my 3 TB HD that I paid $0.045 cents per Gig would have ran $3 million dollars !!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted July 17, 2014 Author Share Posted July 17, 2014 (edited) Well... Cleaning the Read/Write Head with 99% Isopropyl Alcohol didn't help... I did get some Disk Dust off of it, but that appears to not be the problem... So I have Two working CoCo Floppy Controllers, and One Working FD-500 with a Single Drive... I guess it's time to find a pair of Double Sided Drives to put in the FD-500 Case.. On a more positive note.. My Needham's Electronics EMP-20 PROM/EPROM Programmer and ANGO LA6T Eraser are working fine.. Edited July 17, 2014 by MarkO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 It might be the cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_L Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Good point James... worth investigating to rule it in or out... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted July 17, 2014 Author Share Posted July 17, 2014 It might be the cable. Good point James... worth investigating to rule it in or out... Are we talking about the Cable from, the Read/Write Head to the Drive Electronics, or the Cable from the Drive to the Disk Controller Interface?? If I can locate a 5.25" 360K Floppy in my "Vast Amount of Stuff", I will try a different floppy in the FD-500. MarkO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Controller to drive cable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_L Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Yeah, controller to drive. Also, make sure the drive cable isn't folded up and rubber banded, it's not impossible to get cross talk across the ribbon cable as it's not shielded in any way, also keep it away from the left side of any CRT television, the fly-back transformer is usually there and can cause interference as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted July 17, 2014 Author Share Posted July 17, 2014 Controller to drive cable OK..... Yeah, controller to drive. Also, make sure the drive cable isn't folded up and rubber banded, it's not impossible to get cross talk across the ribbon cable as it's not shielded in any way, also keep it away from the left side of any CRT television, the fly-back transformer is usually there and can cause interference as well. It's not Folded Up. It's on Right Side of Display ( 9" TV ), and In front of the Display.. Kind of like This Photo. The Original Apple Disk ][ Drives have a Rainbow Cable.. No Shielding... The Later Disk ][ Drives have a Gray Cable, with a flexible Metal Braid that the Ribbon Cable is attached to, and has a Metal Tab at the Computer end to Ground to the Computer Case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_L Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Another thing to consider would be to check the edge connectors, give them a good rubdown with a pencil eraser and make sure both sides of the connectors are clean, they may have some oxidation on them which can cause erratic behavior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Another thing to consider would be to check the edge connectors, give them a good rubdown with a pencil eraser and make sure both sides of the connectors are clean, they may have some oxidation on them which can cause erratic behavior. That includes the drive controller itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_L Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Yus, and the one sticking out the back of the drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted July 18, 2014 Author Share Posted July 18, 2014 Another thing to consider would be to check the edge connectors, give them a good rubdown with a pencil eraser and make sure both sides of the connectors are clean, they may have some oxidation on them which can cause erratic behavior. That includes the drive controller itself. Yus, and the one sticking out the back of the drive. OK.... I did remove the Malfunctioning Drive from the FD-500 Chassis, and have Removed and Replaced the Disk Controller to Floppy Disk Cable at Both Ends, numerous times, as well as removing the Read/Write Head Cable from the Drive Electronics Board. I am reluctant to break the Factory Seal on the newer FD-500, but I might need to mix and match pieces to find the Malfunctioning part. On another note, My MCM68766C35 EPROMS were delivered, but I haven't picked them up yet.. MarkO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_L Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Why are you concerned about breaking the seal, the Warranty is long since expired? What are the MCM68766C35 EPROMS for btw? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.