Drive A, on this machine, is the hard drive. So is Drive B. Drive C is the
floppy (I had it running, before the HDD started to fail more and would no
longer boot). Can you send me a boot disk?
T.H.x.
Devon
At 05:16 PM 12/06/1999 -0600, you wrote:
>you wrote
>
>"I can pop it into my 286 and try to salvage the data."
>
>NO!!!!! ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!! YOU MUST IMMEDIATELY MOVE IT TO AN ENVIRONMENT
>WHERE IT CANNOT BE ROACHED UP BY A PC OR OTHER MACHINE!!!!. Preferably a
>county (better yet, country, or, better still, planet) totally devoid of
>other computers.
>
>The floppy drive is a dsdd 48 tpi drive, quite standard, and, as the error
>messages suggest, the system loaded from the hard disk expects to find
>something on the FDD. All diskettes are not alike. Not even all boot
>diskettes are alike, but you should have enough on the HDD to create a boot
>diskette from what's there and live happily ever after. You might even be
>able to save the "network" OS, which it may have on it, though that's not
>necessarily what YOU will want to do. Still, if someone else wants it,
>you're better off with having it than not.
>
>What you have now works, though it's looking for something you probably
>haven't got.
>
>Bdos Err On A: Bad Sector doesn't mean anything except that it can't read
>what it thinks it ought to read on drive A, the floppy.
>
>if you hit <enter> a few times, it should give up. If you hit <CTL-C> it
>should terminate whatever it's doing and warm boot, though that might lead
>you back to the BDOS Error. I don't remember whether CP/M retries its
>submit files (like a DOS Autoexec.bat) on a warm boot.
>
>Try to figure out what it's looking for. There might be a file of the form
>*.sub, though that might be hidden, (look in user 15) which you can write
>to a floppy formatted (heaven knows what that procedure is called on this
>machine) right there on it's own drive so you'll have it. Perhaps you
>should get someone local to you to help you find the missing item and save
>it on a floppy.
>
>I can send you a boot diskette, but there's no guarantee that it will
>contain what your system is looking for because my system didn't have the
>same OS.
>
>Dick
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Devon <bobcaar_at_cyberdude.com>
>To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
><classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu>
>Date: Saturday, June 12, 1999 1:32 PM
>Subject: Re: Televideo TS-806/20
>
>
>>My machine has one floppy, one HDD & no free bays. The floppy is a TEAC
>>FD-55B-01-U. The hard drive is a CD JOHNSON & ASSOCIATES LTD. The only
>>daughter board in it is the HDC board. There are around two empty small
>>dip sockets under the drive rack. I finally got it to boot after a few
>>power cycles.
>>On boot it displays:
>>System IPL from Hard disk in progress
>>
>>TELEVIDEO SYSTEM TS-806/20 V1.2
>>60k CP/M Vers. 2.2
>>Tandon TM-503 Winchester.
>>
>>Copyright 1985, Software 2000, Inc. (9/1541)
>>Testing 64K of memory...............no errors
>>A:OSMASTER.SYS loading from 915C to FFFF, size 6EA4
>>TurboDOS 1.42, Copyright 1985, Software 2000, Inc. (9/1525)
>>
>>and I am left in TurboDOS. After a while, I started to get read errors.
>>And now on boot I get:
>>System IPL from Hard disk in progress
>>
>>TELEVIDEO SYSTEM TS-806/20 V1.2
>>60k CP/M Vers. 2.2
>>Tandon TM-503 Winchester.
>>
>>Bios Read Error on A:
>>Track = 0002, Sector = 00
>>WDC status = 51H, WDC error = 01H
>>
>>Bdos Err On A: Bad Sector
>>
>>So, It seems like I'm going to need that boot disk after all.
>>Also, Do you know if this hard disk interface is MFM? If it is (as it
>>looks), I can pop it into my 286 and try to salvage the data.
>>
>> T.H.x.
>> Devon
>>
>>
>>At 08:45 PM 11/06/1999 -0600, you wrote:
>>>The computer has bays for two floppy and two hard disk drives. You do
>have
>>>to open it up to see them, but if you've seen the controller board, and if
>>>you've seen the dip switches, you must know whether or not you have the
>>>winchester drive(s). A -20 normally had a single 20MB drive, which, for
>>>those days, was pretty decent. Two of them - WOW! that was a BIG
>machine.
>>>If you haven't got hard disks in the box, or if they're disconnected, you
>>>should probably connect them up and try to see if they boot. That "IPL .
>.
>>>." message is what you get when it sees there's nothing in the Floppy
>Drive.
>>>Do you have a floppy drive? Let's figure out what's on this machine
>before
>>>we go off half-cocked.
>>>
>>>The boot disk is no big deal to create, though my '806's are both sitting
>>>outdoors, having had their HDD's cannibalized years ago. I can probably
>>>read the things with my AMPRO, which means I should be able to write them
>as
>>>well.
>>>
>>>I need to know whether your floppy drives are 48TPI or 96 TPI drives,
>since
>>>both were in common use.
>>>
>>>Next time you're inside the box, see what else is inside. Are there any
>>>daughterboards, or are there any empty sockets?
>>>
>>>Dick
>>>
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: Devon <bobcaar_at_cyberdude.com>
>>>To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
>>><classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu>
>>>Date: Friday, June 11, 1999 8:28 PM
>>>Subject: Re: Televideo TS-806/20
>>>
>>>
>>>>I hadn't known thats what they were for (winch)...If I ever get some, I
>bet
>>>>I can rig something up. After fiddling around some more (thanks for the
>>>>info, all), I've got it to work...kind of...When it starts it now says
>>>>"System IPL from Hard disk in progress". Then no more... I know the disk
>>>>booted before ...I could type garbage back when I was getting garbage
>>>>(about 4 times before it quit)... It would be great if you could send me
>a
>>>>boot disk... Televideo hasn't replied to my e-mails yet...I'll give them
>a
>>>>few more days..
>>>>
>>>> T.H.x.
>>>> Devon
>>>>
>>>>At 06:24 PM 11/06/1999 -0600, you wrote:
>>>>>Well, I'm not sure I agree about the relative importance of cables with
>>>>>which to interface a hard disk. That's probably the one thing that
>makes
>>>a
>>>>>computer compute fast enough to be useful.
>>>>>
>>>>>First of all I'd try 9600 baud before anything else, since I believe
>>>that's
>>>>>the default. I don't remember what the board switches do, but I can
>hunt
>>>>>around for the manual and get back to you. I wouldn't use PCAW, as a
>>>>>terminal, myself. I haven't had good luck with it. How about
>>>Hyperterminal
>>>>>of Procomm. I've used both of those in connection with a PC and had
>>>better
>>>>>luck than with PCAW, though I've had good luck using PCAW for file
>>>>>transfers, etc.
>>>>>
>>>>>This box was ostensibly a file server and probably contains VERY
>important
>>>>>software, e.g. the MMMost (or whatever it was called) network OS, which
>>>>>isn't around any longer. This box is capable of serving as a
>single-user
>>>>>system, but if you still have the HDD, from which it should boot all by
>>>>>itself if it hasn't been roached up, you might want to preserve it.
>>>>>
>>>>>Well you're in luck . . . I got a phone interruption after which I
>thought
>>>>>of a place to look for the manual...Oddly enough, that's where it was.
>>>>>
>>>>>The manual says the "upper" four bits of the dip switch is used for
>baud
>>>>>rate settings. The lower four bits (5,6,7,8) are unused except for
>>>position
>>>>>8 which is reserved for diagnostics. Obviously, the one who wrote this
>>>>>manual was on drugs. A closed switch is a zero.
>>>>>
>>>>>The baud rates go from 19.2K down to 75, with ascending values from 0000
>>>to
>>>>>1000, remembering that a 0 means CLOSED. Switch 1 is the lsb.
>>>>>
>>>>>I hope that helps you get it going!
>>>>>
>>>>>If you need a boot diskette, maybe I can help you there as well.
>>>>>
>>>>>Televideo, by the way, is still in business, so it's not inconceivable
>>>they
>>>>>might be able to help too, if you ask them.
>>>>>
>>>>>Dick
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
Received on Sat Jun 12 1999 - 18:40:18 BST
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