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RE: [N8VEM-S100:347] Re: CF card images



Leon, on the CF card copying what was the problem?  If you format a CF card
in drive #2 you must reset the "disk" with a ^C before doing a disk A->B
copy.  Then ^C again before reading the (new) Disk for the first time.   For
some reason CPM and/or the disk gets out of sync with these processes.
These cards are real sensitive about getting a reset pulse before first
being accessed.  This is always sent with a CPM ^C -- to both disks, as each
is accessed for the first time.   The symptoms of a "reset problem" are the
very first sector is crapped up -- and always only that one!  After you do a
disk A->B copy, do a verify (at least for the first track or two).   

If the problem persists please let me know.  BTW, you can always correct the
above by doing a HSYSGEN on the CF card.  In CPM, go to drive #2 (your
freshly copied disk) and type HSYSGEN. Follow the instructions. Remember
HSYSGEN always "does" the currently selected drive.

John


-----Original Message-----
From: n8vem...@googlegroups.com [mailto:n8vem...@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Elsid
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2011 6:49 AM
To: N8VEM-S100
Subject: [N8VEM-S100:347] Re: CF card images



Hi Phil,

Congratulations on getting the Sol-20. Was it from EBay the other day?
Very Nice!

I have been looking at some freeware backup programs that do sector by
sector backup to an image file.

Easeus Todo Free Version looked like it might do the trick. But I tried
doing a sector backup of an N8VEM-S100 compact flash and restore from the
backup file and found the CF didn't boot.

There may be a way to do this by using the linux utility "dd".
There is a windows version here:http://www.chrysocome.net/dd you should be
able to make a raw image of a CF on a USB cardreader
using:
"dd if=\\?\Device\Harddisk1\Partition0 of=c:\temp\usb2.img bs=1M -- size
--progress"
I have to check if this actually works. - I tried it. It seems to work but
then the imaged CF doesn't boot.

I think the problem is the usb card reader so I'll try the CF on an IDE/CF
addapter next.

I also tried with wxHexEditor but haven't got very far yet.

If I image a CF with CPM3 on it that you can restore to your CF you sill
won't have the correct CBIOS for the SOL-20.You will have to modify John's
CBIOS or, if you can get hold of a SOL-20 CBIOS source, add in Johns IDE
stuff to it.
You can do all that in the Altair Z80 simulator but you can only write to a
floppy disk image (.imd).

If you email me the floppy image I can load it onto a floppy with IMD, copy
it to a CF in my S-100 system, then image it up to a file (with some program
yet to be tested) and email you back the CF image file.

If anyone can think of a better way to do this please let me know.

It would be wonderfull if we had a simulated IDE drive in the Altair
simulator or were able to write directly to the compact flash from the
simulator. Maybe someone knows how to do this?

Best regards
Leon

 On Jul 14, 2:11 am, Nama <forum...@mac.com> wrote:
> Oops. That was supposed to say 's100computers.com', It seems I lost 
> the 's100' part in the original post. Sorry about that.
>
> On Jul 13, 8:00 pm, Nama <forum...@mac.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Hi all,
> > I'm new to this forum and to the world of S100 and CP/M. However I 
> > have just acquired a SOL-20 with the idea that I want to learn more.
> > As my SOL-20 did not come with and disk drives so I have just 
> > ordered one of the John and Andrew's dual IDE boards with the 
> > thought of building it up and running CP/M from a CF card. I have 
> > confidence that I can build the hardware, but getting CP/M onto a CF 
> > card looks to be very challenging, more so considering I presently 
> > have zero knowledge of CP/M or S100 machines!!!!
>
> > There is a thread on computers.com's forum under the software 
> > section where someone is asking if it would be possible to back up a 
> > CF card containing a generic CPM3 install using some backup software 
> > such as Dave Dunfields ImageDisk. That backup file could then be 
> > placed on the internet so that others (and myself) could download it 
> > reinstall it on on of their CF cards. This could be an easy way to 
> > bootstap a system if people don't have access to a running CP/M system
already.
>
> > I was wondering if someone here would be willing to do this for the 
> > community. John says he can then post the file, but if not, I can 
> > put it on my server for all to download.
>
> > Much thanks in advance
>
> > Phil- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -