• Northstar Advantage floppys

    From Manuel Teira@21:1/5 to All on Thu Sep 15 23:02:20 2016
    Hello,

    I've finally been able to mostly bring back my Nortstar Advantage to
    life. It has a Shugart floppy drive unit that seems to work (I've
    tested it on a PC controller), but unfortunately I have no working hard-sectored 5.25 floppy disks.

    Do you have some advice to give me, regarding such disks. I've seen
    somebody commented time ago about a punching tool, but I've also found references about the unreliability of such mechanical tools.
    Furthermore, how could I write an image to such a disk, in case I could
    get them?

    Any other posibility to load some real program on the advantage? Maybe
    using the serial port?

    Do you know if there's any Nortstar Advantage simulator available?

    Thanks a lot for your time and best regards!
    Manuel

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From David Jones@21:1/5 to Manuel Teira on Fri Sep 16 13:02:41 2016
    On Thursday, September 15, 2016 at 5:02:22 PM UTC-4, Manuel Teira wrote:
    Hello,

    I've finally been able to mostly bring back my Nortstar Advantage to
    life. It has a Shugart floppy drive unit that seems to work (I've
    tested it on a PC controller), but unfortunately I have no working hard-sectored 5.25 floppy disks.

    Do you have some advice to give me, regarding such disks. I've seen
    somebody commented time ago about a punching tool, but I've also found references about the unreliability of such mechanical tools.
    Furthermore, how could I write an image to such a disk, in case I could
    get them?

    Any other posibility to load some real program on the advantage? Maybe
    using the serial port?

    Do you know if there's any Nortstar Advantage simulator available?

    Thanks a lot for your time and best regards!
    Manuel

    Well this week I'm working on a serial loading utility that works uses the serial port in slot 1. It's based on the Northstar loader from deramp.com. Mostly just a matter of changing it to init the port, set the baud rate, etc and move the address it
    loads things to where the Advantage has memory mapped on boot. I haven't had a chance to test it but it looks good. Next I plan on trying to get the Deramp.com PC2Flop modified to work on the advantage. If it helps, I've dumped the boot ROM,
    disassembled it, and have partially commented it.

    Also, I have a punch jigg that can be printed with a 3d printer. I think it works but haven't tested it. Sort of a chicken and eggs thing. Need something working so I can test the other.

    A simulator would be really nice. So far I haven't found one.

    Let me know if anyone wants any of this.

    David

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From David Jones@21:1/5 to Manuel Teira on Fri Sep 16 13:04:36 2016
    On Thursday, September 15, 2016 at 5:02:22 PM UTC-4, Manuel Teira wrote:
    Hello,

    I've finally been able to mostly bring back my Nortstar Advantage to
    life. It has a Shugart floppy drive unit that seems to work (I've
    tested it on a PC controller), but unfortunately I have no working hard-sectored 5.25 floppy disks.

    Do you have some advice to give me, regarding such disks. I've seen
    somebody commented time ago about a punching tool, but I've also found references about the unreliability of such mechanical tools.
    Furthermore, how could I write an image to such a disk, in case I could
    get them?

    Any other posibility to load some real program on the advantage? Maybe
    using the serial port?

    Do you know if there's any Nortstar Advantage simulator available?

    Thanks a lot for your time and best regards!
    Manuel

    Well this week I'm working on a serial loading utility that uses the serial port in slot 1. It is based on the Northstar loader from deramp.com. Mostly just a matter of changing it to init the port, set the baud rate, etc and move the address it loads
    things to where the Advantage has memory mapped on boot. I haven't had a chance to test it but it looks good. Next I plan on trying to get the Deramp.com PC2Flop modified to work on the advantage. If it helps, I've dumped the boot ROM, disassembled it,
    and have partially commented it.

    Also, I have a punch jigg that can be printed with a 3d printer. I think it works but haven't tested it. Sort of a chicken and eggs thing. Need something working so I can test the other.

    A simulator would be really nice. So far I haven't found one.

    Let me know if anyone wants any of this.

    David

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Manuel Teira@21:1/5 to David Jones on Sat Sep 17 01:27:54 2016
    On 2016-09-16 20:04:36 +0000, David Jones said:

    On Thursday, September 15, 2016 at 5:02:22 PM UTC-4, Manuel Teira wrote:
    Hello,

    I've finally been able to mostly bring back my Nortstar Advantage to>
    life. It has a Shugart floppy drive unit that seems to work (I've>
    tested it on a PC controller), but unfortunately I have no working>
    hard-sectored 5.25 floppy disks.

    Do you have some advice to give me, regarding such disks. I've seen>
    somebody commented time ago about a punching tool, but I've also found>
    references about the unreliability of such mechanical tools.>
    Furthermore, how could I write an image to such a disk, in case I
    could> get them?

    Any other posibility to load some real program on the advantage? Maybe>
    using the serial port?

    Do you know if there's any Nortstar Advantage simulator available?

    Thanks a lot for your time and best regards!
    Manuel

    Well this week I'm working on a serial loading utility that uses the
    serial port in slot 1. It is based on the Northstar loader from
    deramp.com. Mostly just a matter of changing it to init the port, set
    the baud rate, etc and move the address it loads things to where the Advantage has memory mapped on boot. I haven't had a chance to test it
    but it looks good. Next I plan on trying to get the Deramp.com PC2Flop modified to work on the advantage. If it helps, I've dumped the boot
    ROM, disassembled it, and have partially commented it.
    Also, I have a punch jigg that can be printed with a 3d printer. I
    think it works but haven't tested it. Sort of a chicken and eggs
    thing. Need something working so I can test the other.
    A simulator would be really nice. So far I haven't found one.
    Let me know if anyone wants any of this.
    David

    Really interesting David! Looking forward to hear about how it turns out. :-)

    I've also tried some dissassembly of the Advantage boot ROM. It was
    useful for me to find that the video RAM was not working (due to a
    failing flip-flop in charge of generating the Write Enable signal) by
    comparing the dissassembly with the address bus timeline in an
    analyzer. In case it can be useful:

    https://github.com/teiram/northstar-advantage-boot/blob/master/src/boot_eprom.asm


    I was also wondering if one of those Gotek floppy emulators could work
    with the enhanced HxC firmware. I've seen that there was some
    discussion in its support forum about making it work with CP/M based
    computers. I don't know if it emulates hard-sectores floppies, but
    maybe it can be combined with the deramp.com VSG solution to simulate
    sector pulses.

    When you talk about the PC2Flop from deramp.com are you talking about
    the Virtual Sector Generator? Why does it need to be modified to work
    on the Advantage?
    I have a PIC somewhere and would like to experiment with this kind of
    solution too. :-)


    Best regards,
    Manuel

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From David Jones@21:1/5 to Manuel Teira on Fri Sep 16 18:08:39 2016
    On Friday, September 16, 2016 at 7:27:58 PM UTC-4, Manuel Teira wrote:
    On 2016-09-16 20:04:36 +0000, David Jones said:

    On Thursday, September 15, 2016 at 5:02:22 PM UTC-4, Manuel Teira wrote:
    Hello,

    I've finally been able to mostly bring back my Nortstar Advantage to>
    life. It has a Shugart floppy drive unit that seems to work (I've>
    tested it on a PC controller), but unfortunately I have no working>
    hard-sectored 5.25 floppy disks.

    Do you have some advice to give me, regarding such disks. I've seen>
    somebody commented time ago about a punching tool, but I've also found> >> references about the unreliability of such mechanical tools.>
    Furthermore, how could I write an image to such a disk, in case I
    could> get them?

    Any other posibility to load some real program on the advantage? Maybe> >> using the serial port?

    Do you know if there's any Nortstar Advantage simulator available?

    Thanks a lot for your time and best regards!
    Manuel

    Well this week I'm working on a serial loading utility that uses the serial port in slot 1. It is based on the Northstar loader from deramp.com. Mostly just a matter of changing it to init the port, set
    the baud rate, etc and move the address it loads things to where the Advantage has memory mapped on boot. I haven't had a chance to test it but it looks good. Next I plan on trying to get the Deramp.com PC2Flop modified to work on the advantage. If it helps, I've dumped the boot
    ROM, disassembled it, and have partially commented it.
    Also, I have a punch jigg that can be printed with a 3d printer. I
    think it works but haven't tested it. Sort of a chicken and eggs
    thing. Need something working so I can test the other.
    A simulator would be really nice. So far I haven't found one.
    Let me know if anyone wants any of this.
    David

    Really interesting David! Looking forward to hear about how it turns out. :-)

    I've also tried some dissassembly of the Advantage boot ROM. It was
    useful for me to find that the video RAM was not working (due to a
    failing flip-flop in charge of generating the Write Enable signal) by comparing the dissassembly with the address bus timeline in an
    analyzer. In case it can be useful:

    https://github.com/teiram/northstar-advantage-boot/blob/master/src/boot_eprom.asm


    I was also wondering if one of those Gotek floppy emulators could work
    with the enhanced HxC firmware. I've seen that there was some
    discussion in its support forum about making it work with CP/M based computers. I don't know if it emulates hard-sectores floppies, but
    maybe it can be combined with the deramp.com VSG solution to simulate
    sector pulses.

    When you talk about the PC2Flop from deramp.com are you talking about
    the Virtual Sector Generator? Why does it need to be modified to work
    on the Advantage?
    I have a PIC somewhere and would like to experiment with this kind of solution too. :-)


    Best regards,
    Manuel

    Thanks for the assembly file. I'll compare it to what I've got so far. At first glance, it looks like what I've done will complement yours, at least some.

    The deramp.com program I was talking about was for the Sol-20 with a Northstar floppy controller, which I also have but is giving me problems. The thing is the Sol-20 has a different memory map from the Advantage. So the program will need to be
    modified for that and buffering location changed as well.

    http://deramp.com/downloads/index.php?dir=processor_technology%2Fsol-20%2Fsoftware%2Fnorthstar_dd_controller%2Fdisk_image_transfer%2F

    I'll set up a repository for what I've done and let you know once I get things set up and uploaded.

    David

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From David Jones@21:1/5 to Manuel Teira on Fri Sep 16 18:27:35 2016
    On Friday, September 16, 2016 at 7:27:58 PM UTC-4, Manuel Teira wrote:
    On 2016-09-16 20:04:36 +0000, David Jones said:

    On Thursday, September 15, 2016 at 5:02:22 PM UTC-4, Manuel Teira wrote:
    Hello,

    I've finally been able to mostly bring back my Nortstar Advantage to>
    life. It has a Shugart floppy drive unit that seems to work (I've>
    tested it on a PC controller), but unfortunately I have no working>
    hard-sectored 5.25 floppy disks.

    Do you have some advice to give me, regarding such disks. I've seen>
    somebody commented time ago about a punching tool, but I've also found>
    references about the unreliability of such mechanical tools.>
    Furthermore, how could I write an image to such a disk, in case I
    could> get them?

    Any other posibility to load some real program on the advantage? Maybe>
    using the serial port?

    Do you know if there's any Nortstar Advantage simulator available?

    Thanks a lot for your time and best regards!
    Manuel

    Well this week I'm working on a serial loading utility that uses the
    serial port in slot 1. It is based on the Northstar loader from deramp.com. Mostly just a matter of changing it to init the port, set
    the baud rate, etc and move the address it loads things to where the Advantage has memory mapped on boot. I haven't had a chance to test it
    but it looks good. Next I plan on trying to get the Deramp.com PC2Flop modified to work on the advantage. If it helps, I've dumped the boot
    ROM, disassembled it, and have partially commented it.
    Also, I have a punch jigg that can be printed with a 3d printer. I
    think it works but haven't tested it. Sort of a chicken and eggs
    thing. Need something working so I can test the other.
    A simulator would be really nice. So far I haven't found one.
    Let me know if anyone wants any of this.
    David

    Really interesting David! Looking forward to hear about how it turns out. :-)

    I've also tried some dissassembly of the Advantage boot ROM. It was
    useful for me to find that the video RAM was not working (due to a
    failing flip-flop in charge of generating the Write Enable signal) by comparing the dissassembly with the address bus timeline in an
    analyzer. In case it can be useful:

    https://github.com/teiram/northstar-advantage-boot/blob/master/src/boot_eprom.asm


    I was also wondering if one of those Gotek floppy emulators could work
    with the enhanced HxC firmware. I've seen that there was some
    discussion in its support forum about making it work with CP/M based computers. I don't know if it emulates hard-sectores floppies, but
    maybe it can be combined with the deramp.com VSG solution to simulate
    sector pulses.

    When you talk about the PC2Flop from deramp.com are you talking about
    the Virtual Sector Generator? Why does it need to be modified to work
    on the Advantage?
    I have a PIC somewhere and would like to experiment with this kind of solution too. :-)


    Best regards,
    Manuel

    Ok. I've put things up in a git repository. https://github.com/djones60/North-Star-Advantage

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From David Jones@21:1/5 to David Jones on Fri Sep 16 18:34:55 2016
    On Friday, September 16, 2016 at 9:27:36 PM UTC-4, David Jones wrote:
    On Friday, September 16, 2016 at 7:27:58 PM UTC-4, Manuel Teira wrote:
    On 2016-09-16 20:04:36 +0000, David Jones said:

    On Thursday, September 15, 2016 at 5:02:22 PM UTC-4, Manuel Teira wrote:
    Hello,

    I've finally been able to mostly bring back my Nortstar Advantage to>
    life. It has a Shugart floppy drive unit that seems to work (I've>
    tested it on a PC controller), but unfortunately I have no working>
    hard-sectored 5.25 floppy disks.

    Do you have some advice to give me, regarding such disks. I've seen>
    somebody commented time ago about a punching tool, but I've also found> >> references about the unreliability of such mechanical tools.>
    Furthermore, how could I write an image to such a disk, in case I
    could> get them?

    Any other posibility to load some real program on the advantage? Maybe> >> using the serial port?

    Do you know if there's any Nortstar Advantage simulator available?

    Thanks a lot for your time and best regards!
    Manuel

    Well this week I'm working on a serial loading utility that uses the serial port in slot 1. It is based on the Northstar loader from deramp.com. Mostly just a matter of changing it to init the port, set the baud rate, etc and move the address it loads things to where the Advantage has memory mapped on boot. I haven't had a chance to test it but it looks good. Next I plan on trying to get the Deramp.com PC2Flop modified to work on the advantage. If it helps, I've dumped the boot ROM, disassembled it, and have partially commented it.
    Also, I have a punch jigg that can be printed with a 3d printer. I
    think it works but haven't tested it. Sort of a chicken and eggs
    thing. Need something working so I can test the other.
    A simulator would be really nice. So far I haven't found one.
    Let me know if anyone wants any of this.
    David

    Really interesting David! Looking forward to hear about how it turns out. :-)

    I've also tried some dissassembly of the Advantage boot ROM. It was
    useful for me to find that the video RAM was not working (due to a
    failing flip-flop in charge of generating the Write Enable signal) by comparing the dissassembly with the address bus timeline in an
    analyzer. In case it can be useful:

    https://github.com/teiram/northstar-advantage-boot/blob/master/src/boot_eprom.asm


    I was also wondering if one of those Gotek floppy emulators could work
    with the enhanced HxC firmware. I've seen that there was some
    discussion in its support forum about making it work with CP/M based computers. I don't know if it emulates hard-sectores floppies, but
    maybe it can be combined with the deramp.com VSG solution to simulate sector pulses.

    When you talk about the PC2Flop from deramp.com are you talking about
    the Virtual Sector Generator? Why does it need to be modified to work
    on the Advantage?
    I have a PIC somewhere and would like to experiment with this kind of solution too. :-)


    Best regards,
    Manuel

    Ok. I've put things up in a git repository. https://github.com/djones60/North-Star-Advantage

    I forgot to mention. I didn't see any copyright notices on those programs I mentioned from deramp.com. Please let me know if he doesn't want us modifying his programs.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Manuel Teira@21:1/5 to David Jones on Sat Sep 17 19:24:18 2016
    On 2016-09-17 01:27:35 +0000, David Jones said:

    On Friday, September 16, 2016 at 7:27:58 PM UTC-4, Manuel Teira wrote:
    On 2016-09-16 20:04:36 +0000, David Jones said:

    On Thursday, September 15, 2016 at 5:02:22 PM UTC-4, Manuel Teira wrote: >>>> Hello,

    I've finally been able to mostly bring back my Nortstar Advantage to>
    life. It has a Shugart floppy drive unit that seems to work (I've>
    tested it on a PC controller), but unfortunately I have no working>
    hard-sectored 5.25 floppy disks.

    Do you have some advice to give me, regarding such disks. I've seen>
    somebody commented time ago about a punching tool, but I've also found> >>>> references about the unreliability of such mechanical tools.>
    Furthermore, how could I write an image to such a disk, in case I
    could> get them?

    Any other posibility to load some real program on the advantage? Maybe> >>>> using the serial port?

    Do you know if there's any Nortstar Advantage simulator available?

    Thanks a lot for your time and best regards!
    Manuel

    Well this week I'm working on a serial loading utility that uses the
    serial port in slot 1. It is based on the Northstar loader from
    deramp.com. Mostly just a matter of changing it to init the port, set
    the baud rate, etc and move the address it loads things to where the
    Advantage has memory mapped on boot. I haven't had a chance to test it
    but it looks good. Next I plan on trying to get the Deramp.com PC2Flop
    modified to work on the advantage. If it helps, I've dumped the boot
    ROM, disassembled it, and have partially commented it.
    Also, I have a punch jigg that can be printed with a 3d printer. I
    think it works but haven't tested it. Sort of a chicken and eggs
    thing. Need something working so I can test the other.
    A simulator would be really nice. So far I haven't found one.
    Let me know if anyone wants any of this.
    David

    Really interesting David! Looking forward to hear about how it turns out. :-)

    I've also tried some dissassembly of the Advantage boot ROM. It was
    useful for me to find that the video RAM was not working (due to a
    failing flip-flop in charge of generating the Write Enable signal) by
    comparing the dissassembly with the address bus timeline in an
    analyzer. In case it can be useful:

    https://github.com/teiram/northstar-advantage-boot/blob/master/src/boot_eprom.asm



    I was also wondering if one of those Gotek floppy emulators could work
    with the enhanced HxC firmware. I've seen that there was some
    discussion in its support forum about making it work with CP/M based
    computers. I don't know if it emulates hard-sectores floppies, but
    maybe it can be combined with the deramp.com VSG solution to simulate
    sector pulses.

    When you talk about the PC2Flop from deramp.com are you talking about
    the Virtual Sector Generator? Why does it need to be modified to work
    on the Advantage?
    I have a PIC somewhere and would like to experiment with this kind of
    solution too. :-)


    Best regards,
    Manuel

    Ok. I've put things up in a git repository. https://github.com/djones60/North-Star-Advantage


    The point is that... I think that my Advantage is a bit different. I
    already found some differences between my mainboard layout and the one
    in the Service Manual. Additionally, it has a 4K boot PROM (Fujitsu
    MBM2732A). The memory layout also seems to be different, whereas the
    Service manual talks about 20Kb of Video RAM, my board has two rows of
    16Kb each. I thought that maybe my Advantage is a later revision, for
    which I was not able to find any information. Most of what is stated in
    the Service Manual apply though.

    If you're interested, I have some photos of the board in my Google
    Drive, like this one:

    https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0B1IyxkqPHp2BdUt0NTc4bmpyNEk

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Manuel Teira@21:1/5 to David Jones on Sat Sep 17 18:17:54 2016
    On 2016-09-17 01:27:35 +0000, David Jones said:

    On Friday, September 16, 2016 at 7:27:58 PM UTC-4, Manuel Teira wrote:
    On 2016-09-16 20:04:36 +0000, David Jones said:

    On Thursday, September 15, 2016 at 5:02:22 PM UTC-4, Manuel Teira wrote: >>>> Hello,

    I've finally been able to mostly bring back my Nortstar Advantage to>
    life. It has a Shugart floppy drive unit that seems to work (I've>
    tested it on a PC controller), but unfortunately I have no working>
    hard-sectored 5.25 floppy disks.

    Do you have some advice to give me, regarding such disks. I've seen>
    somebody commented time ago about a punching tool, but I've also found> >>>> references about the unreliability of such mechanical tools.>
    Furthermore, how could I write an image to such a disk, in case I
    could> get them?

    Any other posibility to load some real program on the advantage? Maybe> >>>> using the serial port?

    Do you know if there's any Nortstar Advantage simulator available?

    Thanks a lot for your time and best regards!
    Manuel

    Well this week I'm working on a serial loading utility that uses the
    serial port in slot 1. It is based on the Northstar loader from
    deramp.com. Mostly just a matter of changing it to init the port, set
    the baud rate, etc and move the address it loads things to where the
    Advantage has memory mapped on boot. I haven't had a chance to test it
    but it looks good. Next I plan on trying to get the Deramp.com PC2Flop
    modified to work on the advantage. If it helps, I've dumped the boot
    ROM, disassembled it, and have partially commented it.
    Also, I have a punch jigg that can be printed with a 3d printer. I
    think it works but haven't tested it. Sort of a chicken and eggs
    thing. Need something working so I can test the other.
    A simulator would be really nice. So far I haven't found one.
    Let me know if anyone wants any of this.
    David

    Really interesting David! Looking forward to hear about how it turns out. :-)

    I've also tried some dissassembly of the Advantage boot ROM. It was
    useful for me to find that the video RAM was not working (due to a
    failing flip-flop in charge of generating the Write Enable signal) by
    comparing the dissassembly with the address bus timeline in an
    analyzer. In case it can be useful:

    https://github.com/teiram/northstar-advantage-boot/blob/master/src/boot_eprom.asm



    I was also wondering if one of those Gotek floppy emulators could work
    with the enhanced HxC firmware. I've seen that there was some
    discussion in its support forum about making it work with CP/M based
    computers. I don't know if it emulates hard-sectores floppies, but
    maybe it can be combined with the deramp.com VSG solution to simulate
    sector pulses.

    When you talk about the PC2Flop from deramp.com are you talking about
    the Virtual Sector Generator? Why does it need to be modified to work
    on the Advantage?
    I have a PIC somewhere and would like to experiment with this kind of
    solution too. :-)


    Best regards,
    Manuel

    Ok. I've put things up in a git repository. https://github.com/djones60/North-Star-Advantage

    Great! If you don't mind, and as soon as I get some free time, I would
    like to merge both efforts, of course mentioning your contribution.
    I think it would be nice to have a complete dissassembly of the boot ROM.

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  • From David Jones@21:1/5 to All on Sat Sep 17 11:52:46 2016
    From the pictures, yours must be a newer one. Mine has two rows of 4116 by 8 bit for video memory and four rows of them with parity for main memory. Mine also doesn't have the extra connector on slot three. I'd be interested in seeing your 4k ROM.
    Mine is supposed to support that and has a jumper for it. I just wonder what is does in the extra space. It might be interesting to burn a copy of it and see if it works in my Advantage.

    Sure go ahead and merge what I have with yours. FYI. I just sent him an email asking if we could use his programs as a starting point for an Advantage version.

    David

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From David Jones@21:1/5 to David Jones on Sat Sep 17 11:56:48 2016
    On Saturday, September 17, 2016 at 2:52:47 PM UTC-4, David Jones wrote:
    From the pictures, yours must be a newer one. Mine has two rows of 4116 by 8 bit for video memory and four rows of them with parity for main memory. Mine also doesn't have the extra connector on slot three. I'd be interested in seeing your 4k ROM.
    Mine is supposed to support that and has a jumper for it. I just wonder what is does in the extra space. It might be interesting to burn a copy of it and see if it works in my Advantage.

    Sure go ahead and merge what I have with yours. FYI. I just sent him an email asking if we could use his programs as a starting point for an Advantage version.

    David

    I should have said connector by slot four. Miss counted :(

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Manuel Teira@21:1/5 to David Jones on Sat Sep 17 21:05:50 2016
    On 2016-09-17 18:52:46 +0000, David Jones said:

    From the pictures, yours must be a newer one. Mine has two rows of
    4116 by 8 bit for video memory and four rows of them with parity for
    main memory. Mine also doesn't have the extra connector on slot three.
    I'd be interested in seeing your 4k ROM. Mine is supposed to support
    that and has a jumper for it. I just wonder what is does in the extra
    space. It might be interesting to burn a copy of it and see if it
    works in my Advantage.

    Sure go ahead and merge what I have with yours. FYI. I just sent him
    an email asking if we could use his programs as a starting point for an Advantage version.

    David

    My 4K ROM is also available in my Git repository:

    https://github.com/teiram/northstar-advantage-boot/tree/master/bin

    In that directory you can find both the boot EPROM dump (what I
    disassembled) and the keyboard EPROM.

    Manuel

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  • From Manuel Teira@21:1/5 to David Jones on Sat Sep 17 21:06:46 2016
    On 2016-09-17 18:56:48 +0000, David Jones said:

    On Saturday, September 17, 2016 at 2:52:47 PM UTC-4, David Jones wrote:
    From the pictures, yours must be a newer one. Mine has two rows of
    4116 by 8 bit for video memory and four rows of them with parity for
    main memory. Mine also doesn't have the extra connector on slot three.
    I'd be interested in seeing your 4k ROM. Mine is supposed to support
    that and has a jumper for it. I just wonder what is does in the extra
    space. It might be interesting to burn a copy of it and see if it
    works in my Advantage.

    Sure go ahead and merge what I have with yours. FYI. I just sent him
    an email asking if we could use his programs as a starting point for an
    Advantage version.

    David

    I should have said connector by slot four. Miss counted :(

    No worries, I understood. Yes, in the service manual there's no trace
    of that extra connector.

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  • From David Jones@21:1/5 to Manuel Teira on Sat Sep 17 12:20:54 2016
    On Saturday, September 17, 2016 at 3:06:49 PM UTC-4, Manuel Teira wrote:
    On 2016-09-17 18:56:48 +0000, David Jones said:

    On Saturday, September 17, 2016 at 2:52:47 PM UTC-4, David Jones wrote:
    From the pictures, yours must be a newer one. Mine has two rows of
    4116 by 8 bit for video memory and four rows of them with parity for
    main memory. Mine also doesn't have the extra connector on slot three. >> I'd be interested in seeing your 4k ROM. Mine is supposed to support
    that and has a jumper for it. I just wonder what is does in the extra
    space. It might be interesting to burn a copy of it and see if it
    works in my Advantage.

    Sure go ahead and merge what I have with yours. FYI. I just sent him
    an email asking if we could use his programs as a starting point for an >> Advantage version.

    David

    I should have said connector by slot four. Miss counted :(

    No worries, I understood. Yes, in the service manual there's no trace
    of that extra connector.

    I found the ROM dump after I posted that and am looking through your code for the last 2k. Here in bit, I'll try burning one and see what happens in my Advantage. I wonder if my ROM will work in yours? If so, we might be able to put some kind of
    loader in that last 2k.

    David

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  • From David Jones@21:1/5 to All on Sat Sep 17 17:15:07 2016
    Well I just tried your ROM image in my Advantage and it worked, including a minimal CP/M. Unfortunately, this disk doesn't have the utilities needed to make copies.

    David

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  • From David Jones@21:1/5 to All on Sat Sep 17 17:32:06 2016
    Also Mike Douglas at deramp.com is ok with us making a version of his loader and imaging software to work on the Advantage.

    David

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  • From Manuel Teira@21:1/5 to David Jones on Sun Sep 18 10:25:34 2016
    On 2016-09-18 00:32:06 +0000, David Jones said:

    Also Mike Douglas at deramp.com is ok with us making a version of his
    loader and imaging software to work on the Advantage.

    David

    Good news!

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  • From Manuel Teira@21:1/5 to David Jones on Sun Sep 18 10:29:38 2016
    On 2016-09-18 00:15:07 +0000, David Jones said:

    Well I just tried your ROM image in my Advantage and it worked,
    including a minimal CP/M. Unfortunately, this disk doesn't have the utilities needed to make copies.

    David

    Good to know. I think I have good chances to get some hard-sectored
    floppies for the Advantage with some software preloaded. Anyway, I
    would like to try the Virtual Sector Generator, to avoid depending on
    such media.

    It would be also interesting to find out if a Gotek simulator with the
    HxC firmware would emulate hard-sectored media (I've asked in the
    support forum, where somebody also asked before me) or even the
    combination of the VSC and a Gotek just supporting typical CP/M disk
    layouts.

    Best regards,
    Manuel

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  • From Manuel Teira@21:1/5 to David Jones on Sun Sep 18 10:24:53 2016
    On 2016-09-17 19:20:54 +0000, David Jones said:

    On Saturday, September 17, 2016 at 3:06:49 PM UTC-4, Manuel Teira wrote:
    On 2016-09-17 18:56:48 +0000, David Jones said:

    On Saturday, September 17, 2016 at 2:52:47 PM UTC-4, David Jones wrote: >>>> From the pictures, yours must be a newer one. Mine has two rows of> >> >>>> 4116 by 8 bit for video memory and four rows of them with parity for>
    main memory. Mine also doesn't have the extra connector on slot
    three.> >> I'd be interested in seeing your 4k ROM. Mine is supposed >>>> to support> >> that and has a jumper for it. I just wonder what is
    does in the extra> >> space. It might be interesting to burn a copy of >>>> it and see if it> >> works in my Advantage.

    Sure go ahead and merge what I have with yours. FYI. I just sent him> >>>> >> an email asking if we could use his programs as a starting point for >>>> an> >> Advantage version.

    David

    I should have said connector by slot four. Miss counted :(

    No worries, I understood. Yes, in the service manual there's no trace>
    of that extra connector.

    I found the ROM dump after I posted that and am looking through your
    code for the last 2k. Here in bit, I'll try burning one and see what
    happens in my Advantage. I wonder if my ROM will work in yours? If
    so, we might be able to put some kind of loader in that last 2k.

    David

    Yes, that would be an interesting experiment. Currently I have no
    compatible chip to burn and replace the current ROM. I will try to buy
    some.

    Anyway, one can also make place in the current ROM to accomodate some
    sort of loader, for instance, replacing the monitor or the serial boot
    code. It would be harder, of course, and it would be always better to
    have some empty space to play with.

    Best regards,
    Manuel

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  • From David Jones@21:1/5 to All on Mon Sep 19 06:33:38 2016
    Glad you are able to get a boot disk!

    If you don't mind, I would still like to merge your source with mine. I still have some ideas on a custom boot ROM. Such as changing the serial boot to be an Intel Hex format loader. With the larger 4k ROM, there are all kinds of things we could do.
    Such as an disk image loader, maybe a tiny basic, etc. I was also thinking that it might be possible, with a little soldering, to build an adapter for a 16k ROM.

    I'm still thinking it would be good to make a version of PC2Flop for the Advantage. People periodically post in the forums looking for someplace to get disks and this would be handy for them. Plus it would give me a good excuse to relearn Z80
    programming :)

    David

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  • From Manuel Teira@21:1/5 to David Jones on Mon Sep 19 17:26:54 2016
    On 2016-09-19 13:33:38 +0000, David Jones said:


    Glad you are able to get a boot disk!
    If you don't mind, I would still like to merge your source with mine.
    I still have some ideas on a custom boot ROM. Such as changing the
    serial boot to be an Intel Hex format loader. With the larger 4k ROM,
    there are all kinds of things we could do. Such as an disk image
    loader, maybe a tiny basic, etc. I was also thinking that it might be possible, with a little soldering, to build an adapter for a 16k ROM.

    I'm still thinking it would be good to make a version of PC2Flop for
    the Advantage. People periodically post in the forums looking for
    someplace to get disks and this would be handy for them. Plus it would
    give me a good excuse to relearn Z80 programming :)

    David

    Of course, feel free to use my source. I hope it contains no errors.

    And yes, it would be very nice to have a PC2Flop version for the
    Advantage. If I can be of any help, just tell me.

    Best regards,
    Manuel

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  • From Manuel@21:1/5 to All on Tue Oct 4 14:30:51 2016
    Finally somebody was so kind to send me hard-sectored floppies with
    preloaded Northstar Advantage software. He was able to write them using
    his Northstar Horizon.

    So, after some video RAM chip change, I have it working again!!

    Here a video to the demonstration disk running: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVM0qTwyH7A

    Sorry for crossposting here and to com.os.cpm, but I think it could be
    of interest in both lists.

    Best regards
    Manuel

    El 17/09/16 a las 21:05, Manuel Teira escribió:
    On 2016-09-17 18:52:46 +0000, David Jones said:

    From the pictures, yours must be a newer one. Mine has two rows of
    4116 by 8 bit for video memory and four rows of them with parity for
    main memory. Mine also doesn't have the extra connector on slot
    three. I'd be interested in seeing your 4k ROM. Mine is supposed to
    support that and has a jumper for it. I just wonder what is does in
    the extra space. It might be interesting to burn a copy of it and see
    if it works in my Advantage.

    Sure go ahead and merge what I have with yours. FYI. I just sent him
    an email asking if we could use his programs as a starting point for
    an Advantage version.

    David

    My 4K ROM is also available in my Git repository:

    https://github.com/teiram/northstar-advantage-boot/tree/master/bin

    In that directory you can find both the boot EPROM dump (what I
    disassembled) and the keyboard EPROM.

    Manuel


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  • From Happy Oyster@21:1/5 to All on Thu Oct 13 01:43:51 2016
    On Tue, 4 Oct 2016 14:30:51 +0200, Manuel <manuel.teira@gmail.com>
    wrote:

    Congrats!

    Finally somebody was so kind to send me hard-sectored floppies with
    preloaded Northstar Advantage software. He was able to write them using
    his Northstar Horizon.

    So, after some video RAM chip change, I have it working again!!

    Here a video to the demonstration disk running: >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVM0qTwyH7A

    Sorry for crossposting here and to com.os.cpm, but I think it could be
    of interest in both lists.

    Best regards
    Manuel

    El 17/09/16 a las 21:05, Manuel Teira escribió:
    On 2016-09-17 18:52:46 +0000, David Jones said:

    From the pictures, yours must be a newer one. Mine has two rows of
    4116 by 8 bit for video memory and four rows of them with parity for
    main memory. Mine also doesn't have the extra connector on slot
    three. I'd be interested in seeing your 4k ROM. Mine is supposed to
    support that and has a jumper for it. I just wonder what is does in
    the extra space. It might be interesting to burn a copy of it and see
    if it works in my Advantage.

    Sure go ahead and merge what I have with yours. FYI. I just sent him
    an email asking if we could use his programs as a starting point for
    an Advantage version.

    David

    My 4K ROM is also available in my Git repository:

    https://github.com/teiram/northstar-advantage-boot/tree/master/bin

    In that directory you can find both the boot EPROM dump (what I
    disassembled) and the keyboard EPROM.

    Manuel

    --
    Homöopathie ist nichts als Hütchenspielerbetrug und organisierte Kriminalität http://ariplex.com/folia/archives/565.htm http://ariplex.com/folia/archives/570.htm
    http://ariplex.com/folia/archives/585.htm http://ariplex.com/folia/archives/643.htm
    http://ariplex.com/folia/archives/647.htm

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  • From jackstrangio@gmail.com@21:1/5 to Manuel Teira on Wed Sep 20 22:35:03 2017
    On Friday, September 16, 2016 at 7:02:22 AM UTC+10, Manuel Teira wrote:


    Do you know if there's any Nortstar Advantage simulator available?


    Hi Manuel, I'm working on one using Linux X11 graphics. I have several disk-images with what seems to be a complete GHDOS. But I haven't got any disk-images which can do the initial hard-disk initialisation and setup for the Advantage. Do you have any?

    I can do all that for my North Star Horizon Emulation. HDOS requires a file called TRANSIENT on the hard drive to replace the CLI interface after the termination of each HDOS command. I assume that the Advantage also does that, but I don't know what the
    file is called, and where I can find it.

    Regards,

    Jack Strangio

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  • From ingmar.meins@gmail.com@21:1/5 to David Jones on Sun Sep 30 05:52:09 2018
    G'day folks,

    I'm in Australia and I've recently been given an Advantage but so far no disks. I've also gone through the process of disassembling the 2k boot rom and transferring Z80 code over the serial port from my PC laptop. Nice old machines and no doubt much more
    fun once I get some disks running.

    Cheers,
    Ingmar


    On Monday, 19 September 2016 23:33:38 UTC+10, David Jones wrote:
    Glad you are able to get a boot disk!

    If you don't mind, I would still like to merge your source with mine. I still have some ideas on a custom boot ROM. Such as changing the serial boot to be an Intel Hex format loader. With the larger 4k ROM, there are all kinds of things we could do.
    Such as an disk image loader, maybe a tiny basic, etc. I was also thinking that it might be possible, with a little soldering, to build an adapter for a 16k ROM.

    I'm still thinking it would be good to make a version of PC2Flop for the Advantage. People periodically post in the forums looking for someplace to get disks and this would be handy for them. Plus it would give me a good excuse to relearn Z80
    programming :)

    David

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  • From David Jones@21:1/5 to ingmar...@gmail.com on Mon Oct 1 08:40:24 2018
    On Sunday, September 30, 2018 at 8:52:10 AM UTC-4, ingmar...@gmail.com wrote:
    G'day folks,

    I'm in Australia and I've recently been given an Advantage but so far no disks. I've also gone through the process of disassembling the 2k boot rom and transferring Z80 code over the serial port from my PC laptop. Nice old machines and no doubt much
    more fun once I get some disks running.

    Cheers,
    Ingmar


    On Monday, 19 September 2016 23:33:38 UTC+10, David Jones wrote:
    Glad you are able to get a boot disk!

    If you don't mind, I would still like to merge your source with mine. I still have some ideas on a custom boot ROM. Such as changing the serial boot to be an Intel Hex format loader. With the larger 4k ROM, there are all kinds of things we could
    do. Such as an disk image loader, maybe a tiny basic, etc. I was also thinking that it might be possible, with a little soldering, to build an adapter for a 16k ROM.

    I'm still thinking it would be good to make a version of PC2Flop for the Advantage. People periodically post in the forums looking for someplace to get disks and this would be handy for them. Plus it would give me a good excuse to relearn Z80
    programming :)

    David

    The newest version of the HxC software on the GoTek floppy emulator will work in the NS Advantage. The HxC emulator software will also convert the .NSI images you can find online into something their drive software understands. I was able to use to to
    create some boot and app disks.

    Also if you look on Thingiverse, I put up a template for creating hard sector disks. Of course, you will need a 3d printer and something to punch the holes. I used a laser to burn them but not everyone has one strong enough.

    David

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  • From ingmar.meins@gmail.com@21:1/5 to All on Mon Oct 1 20:59:53 2018
    Great thanks for the pointers David, I had been reading the 18 pages of hardsector stuff on the HXC forum but obviously missed the bit where they got it working. I used my CO2 laser to modify a disk the other night. I was about to write disk formatting
    and writing code from scratch but the gotek will save the day. I actually bought the hxc firmware a few weeks ago for something else, doh..
    Cheers
    Ingmar

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  • From ka3jgg@gmail.com@21:1/5 to All on Tue Nov 26 15:12:53 2019
    I have an Advantage that I got years ago, but no floppy's. I used the
    monitor to enter some code and made dots on the screen. Found the monitor when I pushed the button on the back. Is there somewhere I can get a list of commands and info for it? This unit has a floppy and HDD.

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  • From Robert Stek@21:1/5 to ka3...@gmail.com on Wed Nov 27 05:26:41 2019
    On Tuesday, November 26, 2019 at 6:12:53 PM UTC-5, ka3...@gmail.com wrote:
    I have an Advantage that I got years ago, but no floppy's. I used the
    monitor to enter some code and made dots on the screen. Found the monitor when
    I pushed the button on the back. Is there somewhere I can get a list of commands and info for it? This unit has a floppy and HDD.

    Contact me privately - I have a bootable copy of GDOS and GBASIC for the Advantage.

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  • From David Jones@21:1/5 to ka3...@gmail.com on Wed Dec 4 12:10:05 2019
    On Tuesday, November 26, 2019 at 6:12:53 PM UTC-5, ka3...@gmail.com wrote:
    I have an Advantage that I got years ago, but no floppy's. I used the
    monitor to enter some code and made dots on the screen. Found the monitor when
    I pushed the button on the back. Is there somewhere I can get a list of commands and info for it? This unit has a floppy and HDD.

    Google for advtech.pdf or email me for a copy. It has all kinds of information on the system including how to get into the monitor and how to use it.

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  • From ka3jgg@gmail.com@21:1/5 to All on Fri Dec 20 17:53:43 2019
    Thanks for the info. I saw where you could load system from 2nd drive.
    I wonder if there is a chance the HDD could have the system on it. Not sure when I'll get a chance to check it out.

    73,
    Dave
    KA3JGG

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  • From wcbright@gmail.com@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jan 6 12:42:07 2020
    The newest version of the HxC software on the GoTek floppy emulator will work in the NS Advantage. The HxC emulator software will also convert the .NSI images you can find online into something their drive software understands. I was able to use to
    to create some boot and app disks.

    Also if you look on Thingiverse, I put up a template for creating hard sector disks. Of course, you will need a 3d printer and something to punch the holes. I used a laser to burn them but not everyone has one strong enough.

    David

    I have been restoring a North Star Advantage, actually a GBC System 9, and I need some help. The drives have been destroyed by a mouse. I would like to learn more about using a GoTek, particularly as a boot drive. I am also having trouble with the
    motherboard and ROMs. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    Bill

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  • From David Jones@21:1/5 to wcbr...@gmail.com on Wed Jan 8 10:17:08 2020
    On Monday, January 6, 2020 at 3:42:08 PM UTC-5, wcbr...@gmail.com wrote:
    The newest version of the HxC software on the GoTek floppy emulator will work in the NS Advantage. The HxC emulator software will also convert the .NSI images you can find online into something their drive software understands. I was able to use to
    to create some boot and app disks.

    Also if you look on Thingiverse, I put up a template for creating hard sector disks. Of course, you will need a 3d printer and something to punch the holes. I used a laser to burn them but not everyone has one strong enough.

    David

    I have been restoring a North Star Advantage, actually a GBC System 9, and I need some help. The drives have been destroyed by a mouse. I would like to learn more about using a GoTek, particularly as a boot drive. I am also having trouble with the
    motherboard and ROMs. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    Bill

    Here is a link to the ROM's
    https://github.com/djones60/North-Star-Advantage

    I also have a dump of the keyboard controller ROM.

    For using the GoTek, here is some information http://torlus.com/floppy/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1777&sid=c05b1655b09181acaaa15982121cf1e6&start=270

    I can't remember if it can boot directly off the hard drive or not. But if I remember right, there is the option for it in the ROM. So I am guessing it can.

    David

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