Synth-DIY Yahoo! Groups Archives

Series I Disk Format Questions

2006-10-20 by modularmoog

Hi Everyone - 

I'm trying to sort out this Series I that I've got sitting here.  I 
haven't been able to get it to load any system disks at all, using 
either drive, 2 different QFC2 cards, and even swapping in a third 
drive.  I believe that all the jumper settings are correct.  (At 
least they are according to the Series II Service Manual.

I tried to look at the disks on my IIx under QDOS and was able to 
see the contents of only 1 of the system disks.  

First off, does the Series I use the same disk format as the IIx for 
it's system disks?  I thought that there was some difference, but I 
could be mistaken.

Just to be sure, anyone have any system disks for a Series I that 
they can copy?  That would be very helpful.

And lastly, just what versions of the OS can I use with a Series I 
anyway?

Thanks,

Tim

Re: Series I Disk Format Questions

2006-10-21 by horiprod

Hi Tim.

The series I and II used 6800 processors, whereas the IIX shifted to 
6809 (that's the "x" in IIX). Correspondingly there are two versions 
of QDOS operating system, which are incompatible. 

Incidentally, the series IIX uses the same computer section as the 
III, which is why you can run OS9 on the IIX.

I have 6800 software here if you're stuck, but hopefully you can 
find someone in the US with a working system to copy a number of 
system discs. Early machines with disc problems have an annoying 
tendency to corrupt system discs, and if you're troubleshooting 
you'll need to have some known good ones.   

Hope this is helpful,

regards,

Peter Wielk in sunny Sydney.

PS. I do have a "mint" non-MFX series III in the UK, but it'll be a 
few months before I transport it here, with my beloved old car. If 
you don't find one first, keep it in mind!

RE: [Fairlight-CMI] Re: Series I Disk Format Questions

2006-10-22 by Tim Curtis

Thanks for the response Peter!

I've got a couple of CMI System Disks labeled V3.C5.09, neither of which will boot in the Series I. If I configure Drive 1 on my IIx as "Old Format" I can read the contents of one of them, which looks standard but has one .VC file on it. I don't think that would keep it from booting. However, I'm not sure that the Series I drives are misaligned.

The two drives are both Qume full height drives - a Qumetrak 842 and a DT/8. I'm sure that one must have been a replacement, as they both have terminating resistors on them. I suspect that the 842 is the more recent one - probably the replacement. I also bought another 842 which doesn't work either. They both give me an "E7" error on bootup. I have the jumpers configured as the YD174 drives are supposed to be configured according to the Series II service manual - they appear to be an identical control board, according to the illustrations and option blocks/jumpers.

I think that I've got some kind of configuration issue, but have no way to confirm that.

On another topic, I just made a deal on an MFX2, as it's a great configuration and the price was really good. I should have it in a month or so. However, it's the 19" rack version, not the standard mainframe that I wanted. Also there are no floppy drives.

I believe that you've racked some Series IIIs in the past. Are the parts available to mount this MFX2 in a standard CMI cabinet? I really want it to match my other Fairlights.

Thanks Peter!

Tim

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-----Original Message-----
From: Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of horiprod
Sent: 10/21/2006 8:03 PM
To: Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Fairlight-CMI] Re: Series I Disk Format Questions

Hi Tim.

The series I and II used 6800 processors, whereas the IIX shifted to
6809 (that's the "x" in IIX). Correspondingly there are two versions
of QDOS operating system, which are incompatible.

Incidentally, the series IIX uses the same computer section as the
III, which is why you can run OS9 on the IIX.

I have 6800 software here if you're stuck, but hopefully you can
find someone in the US with a working system to copy a number of
system discs. Early machines with disc problems have an annoying
tendency to corrupt system discs, and if you're troubleshooting
you'll need to have some known good ones.

Hope this is helpful,

regards,

Peter Wielk in sunny Sydney.

PS. I do have a "mint" non-MFX series III in the UK, but it'll be a
few months before I transport it here, with my beloved old car. If
you don't find one first, keep it in mind!