Hard-sectored 5.25" disks

From: Doug Spence <ds_spenc_at_alcor.concordia.ca>
Date: Sun Apr 4 04:49:55 1999

On Sun, 28 Mar 1999, Tony Duell wrote:

> > OK. That's cool! I've never owned a machine that needed hard sectored
> > disks before. How exotic! ;)
>
> Now you have all the fun of finding suitable disks for it...

I have been told, by someone who is not on this list, that AES supplied
disks with the (default) OS on every disk, but that they did not supply a
formatting utility. So even if I find the OS disks, I might still be
stuck. :/

Didn't DEC do something like this with the Rainbow?

> > > 4650 is a CRT controller IIRC.
> >
> > Yes, in case it was dead I pulled another 4650 off a PC video card and
> > tried it out, but there was no change.
>
> The CRT controller is basically the timing chain for the video system and
> not a lot more. It generates the video RAM addresses and the sync
> signals. It's not common for that chip to die and produce a totally blank
> screen, altough it's possible.

The third ROM (actually an EPROM) in the system, and the empty ROM socket,
are both quite close to the 4650 on the motherboard. I suppose this might
contain the machine's character set?

At any rate, I tried the other AES 7100 at the Salvation Army store, and
it exhibits exactly the same behaviour, so I think it's quite likely that
the machine is fine, but looking for the appropriate disks. <cross fingers>

> -tony

-- 
Doug Spence
ds_spenc_at_alcor.concordia.ca
http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
Received on Sun Apr 04 1999 - 04:49:55 BST

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