I'll try to fire up one of these babies and make you a boot diskette. Keep
in mind, however, that my boot diskette may not have a BIOS compatible with
your hard disk format on it, since mine is not an original TVI boot disk.
I'll need an address, however, since you can't build a boot disk from
binaries.
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 5:48 PM
Subject: Re: Televideo TS-806/20
>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 - 18:51:05 BST
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