The Sider revisited...

I just purchased a First Class Peripherals Sider 4400 unit - hard drive & tape backup system integrated into a single case. It came with nothing other than the standard power cord. Fortunately, I have a Xebec SASI controller for the Apple II, but unfortunately, I don't have the cable to connect the two.

This unit looks like its brand new - not a mark on it. Got it for what I think was a reasonable price and would love to get it connected to tool around with. The unit appears to never have been opened, as there are unbroken seals on the screws, so they haven't been removed.

For those of you who haven't seen one of these units yet:







I can use all the help I can get with this project. First, if anyone knows where I can get a data cable for it, I sure would appreciate it! Or if you know the pinouts for the connectors, I would appreciate that as well. I might be able to solder up a cable myself. Second, if anyone knows where I can get documentation for this baby, would love to have that too. I have googled up a storm, but to no avail - some hits for The Sider straight hard drives, but nothing on this combo drive/tape unit.

Drken said:

Fortunately, I have a Xebec SASI controller for the Apple II, but unfortunately, I don't have the cable to connect the two.

Click to expand...

Your SASI controller has a DB-25 connector (and not a DC-37), right? If so, any straight-through 25-pin SCSI cable should do the trick.

Second, if anyone knows where I can get documentation for this baby, would love to have that too. I have googled up a storm, but to no avail - some hits for The Sider straight hard drives, but nothing on this combo drive/tape unit.

Click to expand...

I don't have any leads on documentation. I think 6 of the plain disk drives have passed through my hands recently, and none has actually worked - they all spin up, and sometimes I could get the activity light to flicker when poking at it from the firmware or "driver" software. But none was ever recognized by the software as working. I wish you better luck with yours. I just sold the last of my DC-37 cables on eBay, but I hung on to the adapter card for posterity.

If you want some software for the generic SASI drive (I've not seen the tape bundle) check here:
ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/images/hardware/storage/sider

info - not docs

info - not docs

Some info, in case you haven't found it yet:
http://apple2.org.za/gswv/USA2WUG/FOUNDING.MEMBERS/HOME.PAGES/EDHEL/sider/
http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v11n8/36_The_Sider_10Mb_of_mass_s.php
http://everything2.com/title/The+Sider

Thanks David. I have a (hopefully) straight-through DB25M-DB25M cable, so I connected everything up and booted one of the FCP Sider disks I have. The HD is powering up, but there is some sort of communication problem.

I did get a bit more information. This model is the Sider C46, which has a 60 MB hard drive and a tape subsystem. I'm wondering if this one actually uses a SCSI card and not the older SASI card. Any intelligent guesses?

. If you have the software for the sider drive. The drive may also have been formatted in Dos 3.3 or CPM. Slot seven for the Xbeck card. Edge connection on the card may need to be cleaned.

Take Care

There are also a few things that may need to be changed. First, there are jumpers on the back panel. The regular Sider manual talks about SCSI IDs (and I believe SASI is the forerunner for SCSI) but I'm not sure about what ID, if any in particular, needs to be set. Also, there are two jumpers on the card itself, neither of which are blocked. Don't know what these jumpers are for and whether they should both be open, closed or 1 open 1 close. Finally, the regular Sider manual talks about a terminator block, I don't have one, which may be the problem I'm encountering, and I have no idea where I can get a terminator that would suffice for this device.

I think I'm beginning to figure this out on my own... the 2 jumpers on the card I have (a rev H0x Xebec card) are jumped ONLY for the older model Siders which required power from the host card. This Sider does not require power from the host card, so the jumpers are left in the open position. I just ordered a DB-25 SCSI terminator block to try to terminate the chain; I am assuming that since SASI is an earlier version of SCSI, the same terminator block will work. In that same vein, I'm going to set the jumper on the rear panel using one jumper (it had 3 installed on it, and I have no idea why) assuming that the ID runs #1 through #8 depending on which set of pins are jumped.

Its been 20+ years since I did my vanilla hard drive, and age has taken a toll on my memory... especially with regard to SCSI devices!

Drken said:

In that same vein, I'm going to set the jumper on the rear panel using one jumper (it had 3 installed on it, and I have no idea why) assuming that the ID runs #1 through #8 depending on which set of pins are jumped.

Click to expand...

SCSI (and probably SASI) IDs were assigned in binary. So it only takes 3 bits (3 jumpers) to assign 8 IDs (numbered 0 through 7). I'd leave the jumpers where they were... with a total of 8 jumps possible, there were other functions that would have been selected with those jumpers.