Hi, I'm in the progress of dumping some 5.25" disks from a CBM-900 (protoype) system - for "obvious" preservation reasons. The disks are labeled to contain Coherent 0.7.3 (UNIX) - (which was the OS for CBM-900) From the labels both "lowres" and "highres" Coherent disk sets exists. I guess that has to do with hw graphics modes and not the disk format. My problem is that I cannot read/dump the disks. I've even tried dumping with the Kryoflux unit (http://kryoflux.com) It does not recognise the disk either - and hence it can only produce a "flux" preservation dump - which it a sort of recording of the magnetic fluxuations on the disk surface. The fact that Kryoflux doesn't give me anything can mean a number of things: 1) the disks are damaged - not very likely - the disks have been stored correct all the years. 2) the drive I'm using with kryoflux (5.25" DS/DD 83 tracks) is not the right type. 3) the disks are not encoded with either FM/MFM/GCR From various sources on the net I've read that the CBM-900 contains a drive that is SFD-1001 compatible and an MFM disk controller. Quoting zimmers.net: (http://www.zimmers.net/cbmpics/c900.html) Addition hardware: 1.2 megabyte 5.25" disk drive (SFD-1001 compatible) 20 megabyte hard drive C900 Series: Prototype UNIX System, dropped after Amiga acquisition Zilog Z8000 CPU, Runs Coherent 0.7.3, UNIX 7 clone, Built-In Floppy, HD, IEEE-488. MFM Disk Controller, 1MB 9600 bps, 500 units made. Came in two versions. But what does the above actually mean ? 1) is it only the mechanical parts of the disk drive that is similar to the SFD-1001 ? or does CBM-900 contain a complete SFD-1001 with comtroller board etc ? (I think not) 2) The MFM disk controller ? is it for the harddisk or the floppy or both ? Could someone give me some info on what disk format/encoding to expect on those Coherent disks. Now I could take the CBM-900 apart and have a look inside - but it is kept in a storage room - and is unaccessible at the moment. I'd be thankful for any information :-) Best regards /Uffe Message was sent through the cbm-hackers mailing listReceived on 2011-10-21 22:00:03
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