Horizon RamDisk's Starting from Scratch

[+dhe]

I have two Horizon Ram Disks.

One lives with a Geneve and one lives with a TI.

It's been several years since I have done much on the systems.

 

I'm assuming, like changing oil, no would be a good time to give them new batteries - if they aren't soldered in.

 

I believe I use gencfg to find and format on the Geneve, and Tim's updated software suite on the TI.

 

Can someone point me to the Archive for the updated suite that Tim wrote for the Horizon 4000B, and does anyone have battery recommendations?

My local Radio Shack went out of business several years ago.

 

Thanks!

[RickyDean]

2 hours ago, dhe said:

I have two Horizon Ram Disks.

One lives with a Geneve and one lives with a TI.

It's been several years since I have done much on the systems.

 

I'm assuming, like changing oil, no would be a good time to give them new batteries - if they aren't soldered in.

 

I believe I use gencfg to find and format on the Geneve, and Tim's updated software suite on the TI.

 

Can someone point me to the Archive for the updated suite that Tim wrote for the Horizon 4000B, and does anyone have battery recommendations?

My local Radio Shack went out of business several years ago.

 

Thanks!

I think this is what your looking for dhe. Are the batteries Ni/Cad, or something else. If ni/cad's then Amazon has good prices on them, and Radio Shack still has a Web presence as well as some small stores in mall's. I would order 3 inline battery holders and solder them train fashion, then bond them to the ramdisk, solder the connections and lock and load.

 

Edited June 19, 2021 by RickyDean
spelling

[+dhe]

Now that I have one gotek going, it's time to update my 8.14F diskette.

[atrax27407]

If I was changing batteries, I would get a 3.6V Lithium with solder leads and take out the NI-Cads and holders entirely. The Lithium batteries are spec'ed for 5 years but the one in my HRD16 lasted 15 years before it needed to be changed. Digi-Key has a wide selection of sizes. The Horizon 4000B has a provision for using one and they can also be used in earlier Horizon models. I would use the latest version of ROS as well.

Edited June 19, 2021 by atrax27407

[+Ksarul]

If using the lithium battery, just make sure you disable the recharge circuitry. On battery holders, I use some plastic-frame holders that work really well. They come as single holders that should be usable on older cards, and the HRD4000B works with those or with a triple-battery holder (I have built them with both types to ensure compatibility).

[+dhe]

A couple of additional questions:

   1) For NiCadd batteries, which are good ones to use for the Horizon application?

           ** Bud Mills old build docs, just call for AAA NiCadds, I think most people picked theirs up at Radio Shack. **

   2) How many years between replacements?

   3) What's the minimum number of hours per week, bi-weekly, month; should the batteries be charged to insure reliable operations?

 

For Geneve Owners, what exactly goes in the DSR area?

 

 

[+InsaneMultitasker]

29 minutes ago, dhe said:

For Geneve Owners, what exactly goes in the DSR area?

Not much.  The 6K ros stub (that originated from the Hoddie ramdisk eprom) installed by Form3MEG and FORM v1.23 was only used for boot purposes.  GenCFG and MDOS 7.30 whittled the necessary information down to a few flags and data points and a few fake routines to accommodate the Geneve Boot EPROM.  The spoiler contains what is saved in the DSR space by GenCFG.  Note: when ROMPAGE is active, if a program calls the HD device or low level opcode >10, the fake IO routines should simply return, forcing DSRLNK to pass the call to the next peripheral.  

 

; This stub is copied to the ramdisk 8k/32k SRAM
;
ROS8K  DATA >AA06   4000 valid|ver OR >9640 (no boot)
       DATA 0       4002 not used
       DATA 0       4004 powerup                  
       DATA 0       4006 not used         
       DATA >402C   4008 level 3 table 
       DATA >401E   400a level 2 table
       DATA 0       400c usr int
       DATA 0       400e
*
* New configuration table to simplify future BOOT and format routines
*
FLAG7  DATA >9901   4010 Special flag to indicate ramdisk 7.0 format
F#PART DATA >0000   4012 0=no floppy partition; <>0 floppy size
H#PART DATA >0000   4014 0=no hard partition; <>0 partition START sector
H#SIZE DATA >0000   4016 0=no hard partition; <>0 partition size
CRU    DATA >0000   4018 CRU of this ramdisk for comparison later
OPEN1  DATA 0       401A
OPEN2  DATA 0       401C
*
* The device tables will only be needed for backward compatibility.
*
* LEVEL 2 IO table
*
LEV2   DATA >4024  401e  next routine    (HARD1)
       DATA >4036  4020  subroutine loc  (FAKE)
       DATA >0110  4022  sub name
HARD1  DATA 0      4024  no more routines
       DATA >4036  4026                  (FAKE)
       DATA >0160  4028   HARD RAMDISK NEW OPCODE to avoid selecting wrong card
       DATA 0      402a
*
* Level 3 IO table
*
LEV3   DATA 0      402c  no other entries
       DATA >4036  402e  routine      (FAKE) ;4036! not 4034!
       BYTE >02,'H','D',0  4030
       DATA 0      4034
*
* Fake routine, just in case
*
FAKE   RT          4036  Return to caller; no routine; pass to next dev
       DATA 0

[senior_falcon]

On 6/19/2021 at 12:16 PM, Ksarul said:

If using the lithium battery, just make sure you disable the recharge circuitry. On battery holders, I use some plastic-frame holders that work really well. They come as single holders that should be usable on older cards, and the HRD4000B works with those or with a triple-battery holder (I have built them with both types to ensure compatibility).

Lithium batteries are NOT forgiving of overcharging and the fires that result can be hard to put out. Disconnecting the recharge circuitry eliminates that possibility.

The chains like Target, Walmart and others sell rechargeable NiMH batteries which will work fine in this application.

Edited June 21, 2021 by senior_falcon