UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum - View Single Post - Gemini 80-Bus System

john_newcombe · 17th Jan 2020, 8:34 pm

Today I took the R/O tab of the only master disk I have and created a system.cfg that used A (QDDS), B: (DDDS) and C (Winchester). This was written to the system track and saved to a file also. The disk now boots and recognises the 40 track 5.25 drive. The Gotek when connected in place of this drive is also accessed, however, the files cannot be read form any of the DDDS images.

I have several physical disks, one is labelled 'Master disk' and the others seem to be MFB update disks. The dates vary from 1984-1986. Each of the disks has a format utility, however, only the one from 1984 will actually run. The others complain that the system is not using the MFB bios. The error text is correct as I am using the biosfw as biosmfb doesn't fit on a floppy. With 1984 version of the format program the disk gets formatted and verified at 80 tracks double density which I am assuming is QDDS. However, it cannot be read under bios 3.4.

As a result of both of the above, I could be forgiven for thinking that the disk/Gotek read issues are related.

To take things further, I think it's time to get a Simon ROM version of XBeaver MFB working so that I can have a play with some disk images.

17th Jan 2020, 8:34 pm	#335
john_newcombe Hexode Join Date: Apr 2019 Location: Skipton, North Yorkshire, UK. Posts: 252	Re: Gemini 80-Bus System Today I took the R/O tab of the only master disk I have and created a system.cfg that used A (QDDS), B: (DDDS) and C (Winchester). This was written to the system track and saved to a file also. The disk now boots and recognises the 40 track 5.25 drive. The Gotek when connected in place of this drive is also accessed, however, the files cannot be read form any of the DDDS images. I have several physical disks, one is labelled 'Master disk' and the others seem to be MFB update disks. The dates vary from 1984-1986. Each of the disks has a format utility, however, only the one from 1984 will actually run. The others complain that the system is not using the MFB bios. The error text is correct as I am using the biosfw as biosmfb doesn't fit on a floppy. With 1984 version of the format program the disk gets formatted and verified at 80 tracks double density which I am assuming is QDDS. However, it cannot be read under bios 3.4. As a result of both of the above, I could be forgiven for thinking that the disk/Gotek read issues are related. To take things further, I think it's time to get a Simon ROM version of XBeaver MFB working so that I can have a play with some disk images.