HFDC manual (2nd ed) on WHTech

[mizapf]

Just wanted to let you know that I have uploaded a new scan of the HFDC manual, clenly scanned with all pages, and without any pencil marks. You can find it on WHTech in the folder /datasheets and manuals/Hardware/Myarc.

 

This is the downsampled version with 100dpi; I scanned it with 300dpi and let it be OCRed by tesseract. I think I'll be able to upload a text version soon.

[Gazoo]

Just wanted to let you know that I have uploaded a new scan of the HFDC manual, clenly scanned with all pages, and without any pencil marks. You can find it on WHTech in the folder /datasheets and manuals/Hardware/Myarc.

 

This is the downsampled version with 100dpi; I scanned it with 300dpi and let it be OCRed by tesseract. I think I'll be able to upload a text version soon.

 

Thanks Michael! That manual is one of my go-tos for TI information. It's one of the most valuable resources we have.

 

Gazoo

[+Schmitzi]

yeah, I made a fine paper-printout for my Myarc-files-folder on the desktop. nice doing, Michael, thanks a lot

 

- Is it my arc, or is it your arc ? :)

[mizapf]

Here is the result of the OCR, and with some simple formatting applied ... but only for a few pages, including some markup for the headers: http://www.mizapf.de/ti99/hfdc_ocr_wip.pdf

 

The complete document will look like the first pages when I'm done.

 

Don't use - it's not verified against the original. However, you can already see that the OCR quality of tesseract ist quite good.

[Omega-TI]

Nice looking work there. I'd love to see a reproduction manual like this come out for the yet to be released Myarc DSDD 80 track clone.

The HFDC, sadly, is not in the cards for me.

[Gazoo]

Nice looking work there. I'd love to see a reproduction manual like this come out for the yet to be released Myarc DSDD 80 track clone.

The HFDC, sadly, is not in the cards for me.

 

You don't have to have an HFDC to appreciate the wealth of information in this manual. In fact, most of the time I use it for reference, the information I need has nothing to do with the HFDC.

 

Gazoo

[mizapf]

As promised, I finished the conversion of the HFDC manual and put it on WHTech. If you find some errors please contact me, or fix them by yourself and upload the edited version.

Directory is ftp://ftp.whtech.com/datasheets%20and%20manuals/Hardware/Myarc/

The file is called "MYARC HFDC Manual 2nd edition.pdf"

 

I edited the file with Open/LibreOffice; the editable file is "MYARC HFDC Manual 2nd edition.odt"

[+Schmitzi]

cool, like a new bible

thx

[Dexter]

A couple of noob questions:

Is this the most common used controller?

Can compact flash adapters be used as hardisks?

Or for that matter lotharek drives?

How about common PC floppy drives?

 

 

[mizapf]

Is this the most common used controller?

In former times probably, at least when hard disks were new. Nowadays there are alternatives, like SCSI controllers; for instance, I'm using an ASCSI. The HFDC is a pretty sophisticated floppy controller with full DSDD support and directory support on floppy disks.

 

However, it only supports MFM hard disks like the Seagate ST-225.

 

Can compact flash adapters be used as hardisks?

 

No, as they are not MFM hard disks. CF cards can be accessed as SCSI.

 

Or for that matter lotharek drives?

 

Don't know. Maybe, if the Lotharek looks like a floppy drive.

 

How about common PC floppy drives?

 

What floppy drives have we been using when you say "common PC floppy drives"? You think of high density drives, I suppose (with 1.2 MiB for 5.25" or 1.4 MiB for 3.5"). In that case, no, the controller is equipped with an unsuitable data separator which does not cope with the high rates.

[+InsaneMultitasker]

As promised, I finished the conversion of the HFDC manual and put it on WHTech. If you find some errors please contact me, or fix them by yourself and upload the edited version.

 

 

Very nice!

 

I was looking for some repair documents this weekend and happened across a binder containing the "HFDC User's Manual Fourth Edition" . I am fairly certain this is the last iteration of the manual. (When I worked at Cecure, I recall the 4th edition being sent to HFDC purchasers, though we may have had a Cecure-branded servicing/warranty section near the end since Myarc was effectively out of business.)

 

A quick comparison reveals some minor differences in the CRU definition section but nothing else really stood out to me. If you like, I can scan it to a PDF for you to review for any changes you want to incorporate.

[Dexter]

Nowadays there are alternatives, like SCSI controllers

Oh, I thought they are even more rare.

 

 

However, it only supports MFM hard disks like the Seagate ST-225.

 

Indeed, I was thinking of IDE.

 

What floppy drives have we been using when you say "common PC floppy drives"? You think of high density drives, I suppose (with 1.2 MiB for 5.25" or 1.4 MiB for 3.5"). In that case, no, the controller is equipped with an unsuitable data separator which does not cope with the high rates.

That I was kind of aware of, 360KiB and 720KiB.

 

 

The PEB side of the TI is still a big mistery to me, except for the standard TI cards.

 

Edited May 10, 2015 by Dexter

[TI-GAMER]

Some Great information!

Is their something similar for the CorComp Floppy Disk Controller?

[+OLD CS1]

Okay, this is a bad-ass card: it supports making images of disks and mounting them for emulation. This is something I have been wanting for a long time. Sadly, it only supports doing so with its own connected hard drive. Thus, no SCSI, IDE, USB, etc. for hosting the image.

 

Mind you, that is if the manual and the DSR match. The WHT SCSI is supposed to support DSK emulation but that was apparently never implemented in the DSR.

 

It does, however, provide a DSK1 over-lay. Put files in a directory called DSK1 on the hard drive and it will check for files requested from DSK1 in that directory, first, before hitting the floppy drive. Neat.

[Dexter]

Indeed, it looks like a really sophisticate controller. FWIW, here is an MFM hard disk replacement someone is working on. http://www.pdp8.net/mfm/mfm.shtml

[+InsaneMultitasker]

Okay, this is a bad-ass card: it supports making images of disks and mounting them for emulation. This is something I have been wanting for a long time. Sadly, it only supports doing so with its own connected hard drive. Thus, no SCSI, IDE, USB, etc. for hosting the image.

 

Mind you, that is if the manual and the DSR match. The WHT SCSI is supposed to support DSK emulation but that was apparently never implemented in the DSR.

 

It does, however, provide a DSK1 over-lay. Put files in a directory called DSK1 on the hard drive and it will check for files requested from DSK1 in that directory, first, before hitting the floppy drive. Neat.

Oh yes, this card is a beast when working properly. It got a bad rap for heat related issues early when Myarc shipped them without heat sinks and poor regulators. However, The disk emulation does indeed work as advertised. On a ti up to 720k per disk image can be mounted. With a Geneve, the maximum is a 3200k disk!

 

I ran my bbs from an hfdc for years in the early 90s. I still have one in my system, though mainly for testing. Mfm drives are tough to come by....

[+InsaneMultitasker]

In that case, no, the controller is equipped with an unsuitable data separator which does not cope with the high rates.

The data separator can be swapped out with one that supports the proper,faster transfer rates. At Cecure we updated this 8-pin chip on quite a few hfdc cards. The main problem is that with a TI the card's DSR is not written to support the proper allocation and calculations. The Geneve bypasses the card DSR And as a result, can utilize high density disks if the card is properly equipped.

[mizapf]

 

A quick comparison reveals some minor differences in the CRU definition section but nothing else really stood out to me. If you like, I can scan it to a PDF for you to review for any changes you want to incorporate.

 

Yes, would be nice if you checked through the manual and sent me the scanned pages. I could add these as an addendum.

 

I once planned to do the same with the Editor/Assembler manual, but this conversion project here showed me that it takes an *awful lot of time*, even though the pages were quite well OCRed with Tesseract. At least the efforts seemed to have paid off; the result looks nice, and the manual is now searchable. My PDF reader shows me the document structure with links to the sections.

 

Maybe we should join forces to do similar conversions in a group effort.

[sparkdrummer]

Speaking of the hfdc, can I run one in my second system with no hard drive attached? I tried plugging one in a couple months ago and I just got a white screen, no ti opening screen.

[+InsaneMultitasker]

I had some time to scan my version 1.4 manual to PDF. It's not the greatest quality as my scanner had some trouble feeding the sheets due to the binder holes. Also there are a few reference notes in the 2nd part which I made over the years so this doc is not pristine

 

If someone wants to upload these to WHT (combined or in two parts) where the other docs reside, I'm fine with that.

 

 

Myarc HFDC Manual rev14-part1.pdf

Myarc HFDC Manual rev14-part2.pdf

[+Schmitzi]

Here just the combination of the 2 PDFs:

 

 

 

Myarc HFDC Manual rev14-TEXT.pdf

[mizapf]

Oh right, this reminds me to update my converted HFDC document to 1.4 ...

 

also available on WHTech:

 

ftp://ftp.whtech.com/datasheets%20and%20manuals/Hardware/Myarc/MYARC%20HFDC%20Manual%202nd%20edition.pdf

 

(unless you prefer the charm of scanned docs )

 

Edit: This is still the second edition, fourth edition coming soon.

Edited July 29, 2015 by mizapf

[mizapf]

OK, so now I just uploaded the

 

Myarc Hard and Floppy Disk Controller Users Manual

Fourth Edition

 

as ODT and PDF to WHTech.

 

ftp://ftp.whtech.com/datasheets%20and%20manuals/Hardware/Myarc/MYARC%20HFDC%20Manual%204th%20edition.pdf

 

When you once start to scan, OCR, and edit such a manual, it quickly turns out to be not half as fun as it seemed before...

Edited August 25, 2015 by mizapf