Emax

connecting the emax floppy to my pc didn't work at all -- the pc
couldn't recognize it.  i have a feeling that the floppy controller on
my motherboard is probably too new.

i purchased a scsi cable with a second connector, a 50-pin to Ultra
connector converter, and an Ultra active terminator.  i connected
everything as described in Ted's message.  the result -- while the
emax doesn't boot off the card reader, it treats it like a hard
drive... ie, i can read/store banks! i still have to boot from floppy,
however.  sometimes i have to reboot the emax a couple times before it
actually loads the OS.  not an elegant solution, but it works.

so, i still need to figure out a way to run the SE upgrade on my emax.
 unfortunately, i don't want to have to buy a separate PC just to make
an upgrade disk.  i'll probably put a request to the group in its own
message so hopefully someone can make me a disk and i can get things
moving.



--- In emax@yahoogroups.com, "pauzetanker" <rexbautista@...> wrote:
>
> EXCELLENT suggestion, thanks!!  I will try that tonight.  I have a
> feeling that you're right -- the whole termination thing is the issue,
> as even when the reader is connected to my PC via the SCSI card, it
> hangs for a bit while scanning the open slot B (since I only have a
> pcmcia card in slot A).  maybe a second pcmcia card will help, along
> with the termination on the cable.
> 
> also, i've determined that my PC floppy drive can't format emax
> diskettes AT ALL.  probably due to the alignment of my PC floppy, as
> it's pretty new.  i think i'm going to try and hook up my emax floppy
> to the pc to see if i can get it to format a disk. 
> 
> i'll keep everyone posted...
> 
> --- In emax@yahoogroups.com, ted Summers <djtbs1@> wrote:
> >
> > Rex---
> > 
> > First things first- that pcmcia reader may have no scsi termination,  
> > while the Drives that were used on the emax did have termination  
> > resistors on them (which could be pulled if needed). That could be  
> > your issue right there. Get a 50pin cable with another connector and  
> > try attaching an internal terminator on the end of it and see if
that  
> > helps get rid of the error. I have a external SCSI zip, and on my  
> > first boot with the hd, if the zip is off or not plugged in, it  
> > hangs. but if the zip is there and plugged in it will boot right the  
> > first time every time....
> > 
> > so you would have
> > 
> > emax logic -------- driver / reader --------------- terminator
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Secondly- I would format the floppy in the emax, then put the OS  
> > image onto it....
> > 
> > Just a couple of thoughts. Keep us posted. Would be cool to not have  
> > any moving parts (ie zip or hd).....
> > 
> > Ted
> > 
> > 
> > On Sep 12, 2007, at 12:13 PM, pauzetanker wrote:
> > 
> > > get ready for a long post...
> > >
> > > i was hoping make this post one where i had success in
installing the
> > > card reader and thanked all the past users for all the information
> > > i've learned about the emax and putting such a thing into my "new"  
> > > toy...
> > >
> > > but so far i've been pretty dead in the water with this project. i'm
> > > hoping that posting up what i've done for people to see will
> > > eventually lead to some answers from folks in the group. my ultimate
> > > goal is to ditch the floppy and LOUD hd, to solely rely on the card
> > > reader so i can take this baby out to gigs, without fear of killing
> > > the moving parts.
> > >
> > > i have an emax hd running the 1.1 OS.
> > >
> > > first order of business was to get a scsi card reader, but i wasn't
> > > willing to pay $140 for it just yet. thanks to ebay, i managed to
> > > score an SCM PCD-15B off ebay for cheap, which i know folks have
been
> > > using in MPCs and some other samplers, so i'm hoping there was no
> > > compatibility problems there. the pcd-15b is a two-slot reader.
> > >
> > > i also bought an old SCSI card for the PC, just to make sure
that the
> > > jumper settings on the pcd-15b could get me to SCSI ID 0. the
pcd-15b
> > > has only 3 sets of jumpers (as opposed to 4 on the pcd-47b). i found
> > > out through trial and error that no jumpers = SCSI ID 0 for slot A.
> > >
> > > i removed the HD, plugged in the pcd-15b, and booted from floppy.
> > > with a pcmcia adapter/SD card in the pcd-15b, the emax would
load the
> > > software from floppy and then hang at the "Just a moment" screen.
> > > however, if i booted without the pcmcia card in the reader, i
managed
> > > to have the OS load from floppy.
> > >
> > > ok, so with the OS loaded and emax on, i put in my pcmcia card and
> > > tell the emax to format hd. lo and behold, it works! i also have it
> > > copy the OS over, which it does (very fast i might add). so things
> > > are looking good.
> > >
> > > now comes the test: i power down the emax, take out the floppy, and
> > > try to boot from the pcmcia card. i get past diagnostics, but the
> > > emax hangs at "just a moment". no good. i try booting from floppy
> > > with the pcmcia card in the reader, and get the same result as
before
> > > -- it hangs on "just a moment".
> > >
> > > i decide that i should eliminate the chance that maybe it's a
> > > limitation due to me running 1.1 OS. so next order of business:
> > > upgrade my emax with the SE upgrade, and move on to the Plus OS.
> > >
> > > i buy some 800kb diskettes, format them in my emax, and boot my pc
> > > into DOS 6.2. since i run my pc solely on SATA drives, DOS wasn't
> > > seeing the FAT partition i created. however, it did see my USB flash
> > > drive i had plugged in, so that's where i copied the necessary  
> > > files to.
> > >
> > > i used emaxutil to make the upgrade diskette, and pop it into my
emax.
> > > DISK ERROR. i try re-fromatting my diskette and re-making the SE
> > > upgrade diskette a few times before i finally gave up.
> > >
> > > ok so now i'm stuck. i'm open to any suggestions on the above, but
> > > here are a couple thoughts:
> > >
> > > -maybe the USB to floppy thing isn't a good idea to make the SE
> > > upgrade disk, so i'm going to find a spare IDE drive to format into
> > > FAT and copy my files to. hopefully this will result in a usable
> > > upgrade disk.
> > >
> > > - maybe ditch the pcd-15b? i guess i can save up $140 for a card
> > > reader... :(
> > >
> > > if you've made it this far, thanks for reading. hopefully soon i can
> > > share a success story.
> > >
> > > rex
> > >
> > >
> > > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
>