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MDM5 for Myarc HFDC


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I've been going through the Myarc MDM5 source code laying out the pieces to properly assemble the program.  Is there anyone still using MDM5 these days?  I've got one module left to test the assembly process, then I will upload the source code with the necessary control files for assembling and linking a package.  Does anyone have any notes on what may have been changed/fixed across the released versions?

 

Are there any other programs that run on the TI-99/4A that allows a user to format a MFM disk drive to be used with the HFDC?  I know with the Geneve, there is CFORM.

 

Beery

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1 hour ago, BeeryMiller said:

I've been going through the Myarc MDM5 source code laying out the pieces to properly assemble the program.  Is there anyone still using MDM5 these days?  I've got one module left to test the assembly process, then I will upload the source code with the necessary control files for assembling and linking a package.  Does anyone have any notes on what may have been changed/fixed across the released versions?

 

Are there any other programs that run on the TI-99/4A that allows a user to format a MFM disk drive to be used with the HFDC?  I know with the Geneve, there is CFORM.

 

Beery

Anyone using their HFDC with an MFM drive or DREM would likely need MDM5.  Even for Geneve users, MDM5 is in my opinion 'better' than CFORM, as the latter periodically hangs on cylinder 0.

 

MDM v1.29 is the version I have been using since my days working for Cecure as it as always been stable for formatting hard drives.   I do not really what changes were made for the v1.30 release. You released v1.50 long ago and IIRC you incorporated the 'rompage' functionality into the program; your release notes were with the file and/or in 9640*News. Not sure if you released the source at that time. 

 

Edit: see later post regarding rompage/TI ON mode.

 

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3 minutes ago, InsaneMultitasker said:

Anyone using their HFDC with an MFM drive or DREM would likely need MDM5.  Even for Geneve users, MDM5 is in my opinion 'better' than CFORM, as the latter periodically hangs on cylinder 0.

 

MDM v1.29 is the version I have been using since my days working for Cecure as it as always been stable for formatting hard drives.   I do not really what changes were made for the v1.30 release. You released v1.50 long ago and IIRC you incorporated the 'rompage' functionality into the program; your release notes were with the file and/or in 9640*News. Not sure if you released the source at that time. 

 

Looks like I need to revisit my 1.50 notes.  Sounds like I probably moved page >BA into the mapper for the Geneve.

 

The source code I am dealing with is 1.29, the only source I ever had.  The source has been available for probably 20+ years.  I agree, MDM5 is better than CFORM as I had problems with it at times formatting the DREM when it was testing the formatted image.

 

14 minutes ago, Ksarul said:

MDM5 is part of the various EB Suite cartridges the Great Gazoo built--and his version works with all disk controllers, not just the HFDC. That said, yes, there are those still using it.

 

Where can I find details on the EB Suite cartridges?  This is the first I have heard of it.

 

That's got me wondering that if perhaps MDM5 may be able to be added as a FinalGrom99 cartridge...…………….

 

 

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16 minutes ago, BeeryMiller said:

The source code I am dealing with is 1.29, the only source I ever had.  The source has been available for probably 20+ years.  I agree, MDM5 is better than CFORM as I had problems with it at times formatting the DREM when it was testing the formatted image.

You might be working from the v1.29 code I retrieved from John Birdwell's hard drive backups.  There should be code for the backup and recovery modules and the format module in addition to the main program, if I recall correctly.  MDM 1.50 source is on one of your earlier hard drive MESS images as I recall. :)

 

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Looks like MDM5 was updated to use the TI ON switch, which has since been removed from MDOS. So you are probably safe to proceed with v1.29.  The best way to load MDM5 on a Geneve is with GPL/rompage and in some cases, EXEC with the /R switch.  The latter gets quirkly depending on the CRU address and whether or not a floppy controller is in the system at 1100.

image.thumb.png.58bdc9f50f14d9528a5c7b858105eba0.png

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52 minutes ago, InsaneMultitasker said:

Looks like MDM5 was updated to use the TI ON switch, which has since been removed from MDOS. So you are probably safe to proceed with v1.29.  The best way to load MDM5 on a Geneve is with GPL/rompage and in some cases, EXEC with the /R switch.  The latter gets quirkly depending on the CRU address and whether or not a floppy controller is in the system at 1100.

image.thumb.png.58bdc9f50f14d9528a5c7b858105eba0.png

Thanks for pulling the information.  I'm pretty sure it is John Birdwell's backups I likely received from either you or Mike Maksimik.  I have two versions of the Backup and Restore functions, a "C" and a "D" version. One of the "C" files has a missing label for the source file CB-BACKUP at line 540 (Label is ABRT which I am fairly sure is a 15 character string). Not sure if the two versions originated from John, or if the D version originated elsewhere (you, me, etc.).  I also have a few files in the main program that have duplicates with a "1" added to the filename.  Not sure if that was my handiwork, or if that was the way they originally came.

 

Now, I understand why I never could get 1.50 to work on my system from the distribution archive.  I'll stick with keeping 1.29 as 1.29, but I am going to update the version number.

 

The final source package I put together will require GenASM/GenLINK.  Not so much of a need for GenASM, but GenLINK allows the various pieces to be saved in appropriate image files the system requires.

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Going to throw this out there if someone has an interest. 

 

Does someone have interest in writing a Save/Restore function for MDM5 that does a sector read (or file I/O) of a MFM drive, and a Record Save/Read function out to the TIPI that would allow backing up and restoring a MFM drive?  Much of the underlying code is already written except some changes would be need for the TIPI side of things.

 

I personally never liked saving backups to floppies as one bad floppy screwed everything up so I copied from one drive to a second drive.   Myself, I do not have that requirement so it is not a pressing issue for me as I have a DREM.

 

Beery

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>I personally never liked saving backups to floppies as one bad floppy screwed everything up so I copied from one drive to a second drive.   Myself, I do not have that requirement so it is not a pressing issue for me as I have a DREM.

 

Wow, that brings back some memories. I did that thing with like 15 floppies, and had it fail. A bit like loading OS/2 from 25 floppies. So in short, you probably have become the DREM, sales person of the month! -=)

 

 

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1 hour ago, dhe said:

Wow, that brings back some memories. I did that thing with like 15 floppies, and had it fail. A bit like loading OS/2 from 25 floppies. So in short, you probably have become the DREM, sales person of the month! -=)

Mmm.  Don't forget your stacks of ADF files (and backup ADF files for when the dirty drive trashes your original disk)  to contend with any IBM microchannel machines!

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Here is a complete set of source files that will assemble to the latest known version of MDM5.  The assembly process in this zip archives uses the MDOS batch file "ASS" and the Link file "LINK1" to put the various modules together.  The code is from the V1.29 codebase, but to differentiate this from any future versions, I numbered it as V1.60 should there ever be a question on its origin.

 

If you have any questions, just ask.

 

Beery

 

 

MDM5-V129-V160.zip

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On 8/14/2020 at 9:47 PM, BeeryMiller said:

Going to throw this out there if someone has an interest. 

 

Does someone have interest in writing a Save/Restore function for MDM5 that does a sector read (or file I/O) of a MFM drive, and a Record Save/Read function out to the TIPI that would allow backing up and restoring a MFM drive?  Much of the underlying code is already written except some changes would be need for the TIPI side of things.

 

I personally never liked saving backups to floppies as one bad floppy screwed everything up so I copied from one drive to a second drive.   Myself, I do not have that requirement so it is not a pressing issue for me as I have a DREM.

 

Beery

I never made a backup of my MFM hard drive to floppies ... I had a second MFM hard drive as backup instead (and a file-by-file backup on my pc using Dm2k).

Now also owning a DREM creating a backup is much easier these days, just creating a copy of the had drive image file from the DREM's SD-card to my PC.

 

Fred

 

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I tried something last night when copying files from WDS1 to DSK0 (TIPI), that DM2K also created directories on the fly.  That makes using DM2K pretty nice for backing up to TIPI, really eliminating the need for the MDM5 backup/restore module.

 

Beery

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  • 1 year later...
On 8/14/2020 at 7:13 PM, 9640News said:

I've been going through the Myarc MDM5 source code laying out the pieces to properly assemble the program.  Is there anyone still using MDM5 these days?  I've got one module left to test the assembly process, then I will upload the source code with the necessary control files for assembling and linking a package.  Does anyone have any notes on what may have been changed/fixed across the released versions?

 

Are there any other programs that run on the TI-99/4A that allows a user to format a MFM disk drive to be used with the HFDC?  I know with the Geneve, there is CFORM.

 

Beery

Hi Beery, you can probably answer this question. I just downloaded and transferred MDM 1.60 to my Geneve (never used that version before, only 1.30 and 1.50), but I don't get a choice as to which HD I want to format; it merely chooses #1. Is that hardcoded and choiceless in that version?

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5 hours ago, Brufnus said:

Hi Beery, you can probably answer this question. I just downloaded and transferred MDM 1.60 to my Geneve (never used that version before, only 1.30 and 1.50), but I don't get a choice as to which HD I want to format; it merely chooses #1. Is that hardcoded and choiceless in that version?

You likely need to go into settings and add more than one drive. It likely is defaulting to a single drive in the settings so skips asking for which drive. 

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