ST-PC with terminal

[nathanallan]

I wanna get my 520ST to talk through a null modem cable to my pc, running win2k.

 

I got a SF354 fdd for the st. I need to get some kind of terminal program onto a fdd that the st can read and I'll be set.

 

I have all kinds of terminal software but what I need is to get it onto a flpooy disk, stick it in the st drive and run it from there.

 

How do I make a floppy that the st can read? I have 720k and 1.44mb disks available. I know that the sf354 is a 360k drive.

 

Question: Why is there floppy A and then B on the st desktop when I only have one fdd?

 

Nathan

[krupkaj]

I wanna get my 520ST to talk through a null modem cable to my pc, running win2k.

 

How do I make a floppy that the st can read? I have 720k and 1.44mb disks available. I know that the sf354 is a 360k drive.

 

hmm it is not easy to format one side floppy on Windows. But maybe there is somewhere some format utility. I am sorry, I am not Windows user, so do not know where to get it.

 

Question: Why is there floppy A and then B on the st desktop when I only have one fdd?

 

you can copy files from one disk to another by draging the file to drive icon "B". The TOS then asks you to insert floppy A or B to disk drive.

[TwiliteZoner]

I wanna get my 520ST to talk through a null modem cable to my pc, running win2k.

 

How do I make a floppy that the st can read? I have 720k and 1.44mb disks available. I know that the sf354 is a 360k drive.

 

hmm it is not easy to format one side floppy on Windows. But maybe there is somewhere some format utility. I am sorry, I am not Windows user, so do not know where to get it.

 

Question: Why is there floppy A and then B on the st desktop when I only have one fdd?

 

you can copy files from one disk to another by draging the file to drive icon "B". The TOS then asks you to insert floppy A or B to disk drive.

1016988[/snapback]

 

There are utilties to use on the ST to format a disk that can be read on a PC. I have several that I use to transfer files back and forth.

 

Now if you have TOS 1.4 it is compatible with the PC format.

Edited February 12, 2006 by TwiliteZoner

[Sikor]

I wanna get my 520ST to talk through a null modem cable to my pc, running win2k.

 

For this use GhostLink software - You can read all PC's disk as ST HD.

[nathanallan]

TZ I pm'd you. Thanks for the tip on the a and b drives, that's new to me. I'm gonna try the ghostlink. I'll see what happens.

[nathanallan]

nothing is happening. I don't have tos 1.4 I guess. ghostlink is on the pc okay, but I have no way to get a floppy over to the st. I've tried a couple of programs and they give me disk errors.

 

TZ I sent you my email.

 

[Goochman]

Any disk formatted in 720K mode on a PC is readable on an ST. Key is to find a PC that can still format 720K size disks (I think WinXP doesnt allow for formatting this size anymore).

 

Easier to format on the PC side vs th ST for cross compatibility.

[krupkaj]

The problem is that he has SF354, which is single sided. I am not sure any windows can format or even read 360 kb floppy.

 

I think the best way is to buy SF314 or some 3rd party floppy drive.

[nathanallan]

I broke out the old dos box to see what I could get done, and all the floppies the atari swears are blank have data on them, the data they're supposed to have.

 

I have a bad sf354. I have another on its way, but yeah, I need to get some kind of double sided drive.

 

Anybody here got one for sale? Or the terminal cartridge? I usually trade stuff for stuff but I'll buy it, too.

 

Windows 95 will see a 360k disk barely, and dos sees it perfectly. I done it. Not a dos window, but pure dos. If you do it in a dos window it'll give you errors.

 

The funny thing is it's the os, not the drive. I have two laptops, one win2k and one 95/dos. I took the drive from the win2k machine and used it on the 95/dos machine and it saw the disk and all data. The win2k machine with the same floppy drive refused to see the disk totally. Wierd.

[Goochman]

The problem is that he has SF354, which is single sided. I am not sure any windows can format or even read 360 kb floppy.

 

I think the best way is to buy SF314 or some 3rd party floppy drive.

1017456[/snapback]

 

Ah ok - You can format 360K disks in Win98 still I believe - but yes, you need to go far back on the PC side for that support.

 

nathanallan - your Atari may think they are blank but since by default the ST didnt put the correct boot sector in the PC wont recognize them (something like that ) -

 

For those in the know here - can he easily swap out the 360K mech and put in a 720K mech and still have the SF354 work, or does the SF314 have a different BIOS?

[krupkaj]

For those in the know here - can he easily swap out the 360K mech and put in a 720K mech and still have the SF354 work, or does the SF314 have a different BIOS?

There is no BIOS or something like that in ST floppy drives. It is possible to just swap drives. But I think the drives in 354 and 314 are very different, so it is neccessary to cut the front of the case. I think it is better to buy SF314 and let the SF354 intact.

[nathanallan]

I kinda went off the deep end and ended up with THREE sf354 drives, heh heh. I thought mine was dead, and I htought one was lost in the mail, so I ordered a third. I think the drive heads are misaligned on the first two, and the third is en rouute. So unless I can find a decent project box for it, I'm gonna "customize" one of the 354 cases for the new drive I'm gonna try (720k, if I can find the jumper diagram), a sony MPF420-4. It says 3-mode, so I think I can make it a strict 720k. The pin assignments on the drives for this and the 354 are the same, though arranged differently. I'd like a 314 but they're expensive to ship from the UK, that is the only place I can find one.

 

I'll trade two SF354's for one good SF314 if anyone's interested.

[Sikor]

I'll trade two SF354's for one good SF314 if anyone's interested.

1018733[/snapback]

If You have 3 drives - try replace in one disk drive mechanizm for 720KB or 1,44MB drive. If you use PC mechanizm - you must flip signal tape 180 degrees (IDE tape) and find disk ide jumper and replace it from D1 to D0 (or from D0 to D1 - i don't remember now...). Of course in this method you can red/write only 360 and 720 diskettes only, but it is the easiest way to do it. Good luck.

[ijor]

Most, if not all, newer PC drives don't have (solderless) jumpers for setting the drive ID. So you'll need to solder a jumper to set the drive ID to 0. Or otherwise, you can swap the select signals at some point on the cables or the connectors.

[nathanallan]

The third drive came in and it had the same results as the dirst two. I'm gonna troubleshoot the cable. As for flipping the data cable, my drives all have a proprietary connector inside that doesn't fit the flat ribbon cable. I did get a working model of a pinout though:

 

ST-PC

1 - 30

2 - 32 (edit)

3 - gnd

4 - 8

5 - 9

6 - 12

7 - gnd

8 - 16

9 - 18

10-20

11-22

12-24

13-26

14-28

 

The ST has a 14 pin connector and the ribbon has 34, adn those are the same pin assignments as far as I can tell for both. All of the odd numbered pc conections for the data cable are set to ground. 720k is all I need.

 

I've been getting conflicting reports on pin 2, that there needs to be something done special to it. Does anyone know for sure? Does this pinout work?

Edited February 17, 2006 by nathanallan

[nathanallan]

Ah, duh me, that was what I ws talking about. CHanging it to ID0. Got it. Still experimenting. Thanks ijor.

Edited February 16, 2006 by nathanallan

[krupkaj]

connector inside that doesn't fit the flat ribbon cable. I did get a working model of a pinout though:

 

ST-PC

2 - 2

 

I've been getting conflicting reports on pin 2, that there needs to be something done special to it. Does anyone know for sure? Does this pinout work?

 

I am not sure but I think pin2 from ST should go to pin 32 on floppy (side0 -> /side1). What do you think?

[nathanallan]

You're absolutely right, and I edited it to show in that post up there. Pin 2 on the ST is SIDE 0 SELECT and pin 32 on the PC drive is ) HEAD SELECT. Thanks for the correction, I had overlooked that and made an oopsie. At least it wasn't an oops that would have blown the drive, just conflicted the data and flat wouldn't do anything. Thanks! My sources below:

 

ST pins for older SF354 drive cable/case

Pin Name Description

1 RD Read Data

2 SIDE0 Side 0 Select

3 GND Ground

4 INDEX Index

5 SEL0 Drive 0 Select

6 SEL1 Drive 1 Select

7 GND Ground

8 MOTOR Motor On

9 DIR Direction In

10 STEP Step

11 WD Write Data

12 WG Write Gate

13 TRK00 Track 00

14 WP Write Protect

 

Floppy Drive A Pin Out

Pin No. Signal Name Description

1 Ground --

2 /REDWC Density Select 1=Low/0=High

3 Ground --

4 N/C Reserved

5 Ground --

6 N/C Reserved

7 Ground --

8 /Index 0=Index

9 Ground --

10 /MOTEA 0=Motor Enable Drive 0

11 Ground --

12 /DRVSB Drive Select 1

13 Ground --

14 /DRVSB Drive Select 0

15 Ground --

16 /MOTEB 0=Motor Enable Drive 1

17 Ground --

18 /DIR 0=Direction Select

19 Ground --

20 /Step 0=Head Step

21 Ground --

22 /WDATE Write Data

23 Ground --

24 /WGATE Floppy Write Enable, 0=Write Gate

25 Ground --

26 /TRK00 0=Track 00

27 Ground --

28 /WPT 0=Write Protect

29 Ground --

30 /RDATA Read Data

31 Ground --

32 /SIDE1 0=Head Select

33 Ground --

34 /DSKCHG 1=Disk Change/0=Ready

[krupkaj]

fine, I have added it to my small hardware page:

http://krupkaj.wz.cz/acm/index.php?submenu...floppy_internal

[nathanallan]

I like your page! I know it's under construction but I like the layout and the way it looks. As soon as you get the atari scsi to 50-pin let me know, I'm ready to add some stuff to it.

 

Don't know if I said it, but I tested all the drives with the same results (disk there, but no data) and tested the cable and it checked out as good. I think the controller on the ST's motherboard is bad. Bummer. Good thing I can still use it as a terminal with the cart and MATBE hook up a scsi chain of different drives from it's scsi port.

[nathanallan]

NOW I understand what you mean Sikor about flipping the cable. See the first drive is an older one, with the slanted button and door, the other two are later and have square stuff in front. The older one has a 14-pin connector. I haven't opened up the other two but I bet they'll have more standard parts in them.

 

I'm starting to think that there's an age-related problem here. I saw another thread form someone here that has a 520st that he's settng rid of that had the same problem under similar circumstances: not having been used for years. I think I'll try to clean up the contacts anywhere I can find them and hook everything back up and see if they work. If that doesn't work, it'll be relegated to use as a terminal only with a terminal cart. I am about to have two more sent to me(520STFM and 1040STFM) so I can closet this one if need be.

 

These damn things are so NEAT!!

[nathanallan]

I've come a little ways as far as this particular machine. Mostly diagnostic. I got a terminal cartridge and got it to talk to terminal on the win95 laptop with a null modem, without ghoslink on a terminal emulator perfectly. The only complain it that there was no echo on/off toggle. It worked.

 

The keyboard on this poor 520st is shot. Half the keys have to be literally hit to work. The fdd controller either needs to be reseated or replaced. I would try the 'atari drop' method but I'm afraind that the motherboard would crack, so I'm holding out for an IC puller. So terminal works, but since the controller is needing love I can't transfer anything yet. But hey, it's progress.

 

When I do get the controller to work since I have the pinout I'm gonna try both a 1.44 and a 1.2mb 5.25" drive I dug up. I was gonna try to get a 1040 atari drive but since I'm not a collector I'll rig something that would be similar. Let someone with an 8-bit appreciate the drive and treasure it. To me it'd just be a disk drive.

[krupkaj]

Just quick notice, 1.44 MB HD floppy will not work unless you make HD controller mod. Also there is no pin for hd sensor on Atari connector (DIN 14). So HD floppy is better for internal drive where you can connect it easyly.

[nathanallan]

If it'll see a 720k disk I'll be happy with it. I have another computer coming in, a 520STFM that has a 720 on it. I was actually thinking of going to best and getting the new ajax chip from them and actually paying about $60 for it IIRC. I have a 1.2mb 5.25" drive that I can use just to have a drive to use for now. Somewhere to keep data. I figure I can make it work. I kow I have a true 360k drive around here somewhere, I just gotta find it if the 1.2 doesn't work. Before I get that controller I'll want to replace the keyboard. It was a pain to use it. And I'll be able to play with the STFM in the meantime.

[ijor]

I have a 1.2mb 5.25" drive that I can use just to have a drive to use for now. Somewhere to keep data. I figure I can make it work. I kow I have a true 360k drive around here somewhere

 

Hmm, seems you like complications...

 

It is possible to use 5.25 drives, but both HD (1.2Mb) and DD (360k) have their own and different complications.

 

I'd recommend sticking to 3.5 drives, at least until you have a good working setup.