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AlphaMicro Systems AM1000, AM1200, & maybe AM100L drive replacement

This message was blocked because its content presents a potential security issue. same crap
 
First, you could try sending it to jubjub07@protonmail.com - maybe they have different detectors - sorry for the hassle.

I can unpack just about any archive format. I have windows, linux, and mac machines here, as well as reproductions of PDP-11, PDP-8, Altair 8800, IMSAI 8080 ...

Google must be detecting some type of virus.

You could also try sending it to jubjub07@protonmail.com - maybe they have different detectors - sorry for the hassle.
 
or... they don't like people that know how to bypass their scam.
never heard of a mc68000 virus.
 
hehe... came through fine on proton, which I'm in the process to switching over to.
 
OK, just wanted to update this thread on my latest SCSI->SD exploration on the AM1400...

I ordered the ZULU 1.1 board from inertial computing: https://store.inertialcomputing.com/ZuluSCSI-V1-1-p/zuluscsi-v1.1-rev-2022c.htm
FWIW, I ordered the add-ons: Floppy-Style Berg Power Connector and the 3.5 inch Mounting Bracket.

The Floppy-style Berg Power connector connects to one of the 1400's disc-device power cables. It doesn't appear that the 1400 supplies power on the SCSI bus, as far as I could tell.
The Mounting bracket installs beautifully, exposing the SD card slot on the front of the 1400. They also offer a 5.25 inch mounting bracket which may be more appropriate for the AM1000/1200s.

Zulu has a nice feature - you can have multiple disk images on it, and it will mount each as a separate SCSI device. As such I was able to mount several images simultaneously. You simply name them HD0.img, HD1.img, etc. and they'll mount up as SCSI device 0, 1, etc.

You can also mount CD images as either .img files or .iso files.

More detailed info for the Zulu board is here: http://zuluscsi.com/
The full manual is here: http://zuluscsi.com/ZuluSCSI-Manual/
and firmware is here: https://github.com/ZuluSCSI/ZuluSCSI-firmware

The firmware appears to be actively maintained with updates as recent as April 2022.

One other nice feature is that the LED status light will blink to let you know if there's a problem, and an log is written to the sd card that is a txt file that you can view on another machine to see what's going on:

Log files and error indications​

Log messages are stored in zlulog.txt, which is cleared on every boot. Normally only basic initialization information is stored, but switching the DBG DIP switch on will cause every SCSI command to be logged, once the board is power cycled.

The indicator LED will normally report disk access. It also reports following status conditions:

  • 1 fast blink on boot: Image file loaded successfully
  • 3 fast blinks: No images found on SD card
  • 5 fast blinks: SD card not detected
  • Continuous morse pattern: firmware crashed, morse code indicates crash location
In crashes the firmware will also attempt to save information into zuluerr.txt.

======

Overall, I got this up and running in a few minutes... once i found the manual and understood the naming conventions.


IMG_5286.jpeg
 
With a 64G SD card I can store a lot of platters of stuff... Nice to have an easy way to swap bootable systems, etc.

I do have alphaC up and running - I may port over Mike Noel's AM100 emulator. Would be kind of crazy to have an alpha micro emulating an earlier alpha micro... haha
 
if you in to emulators, i use easy86k, it only runs on windows, but there is source code.
 
With a 64G SD card I can store a lot of platters of stuff... Nice to have an easy way to swap bootable systems, etc.

I do have alphaC up and running - I may port over Mike Noel's AM100 emulator. Would be kind of crazy to have an alpha micro emulating an earlier alpha micro... haha
Just stumbled across this thread and very interested as it is exactly what I've been trying to do!

Have been using scsi2sd & zuluscsi on a powerbook for awhile and am trying to convert an am1200 (that has a dead HD).

Happy to assist with your effort to port VAM into AMOSL, but don't expect it will be easy.
 
Hi mike,

can’t remember if I remember you from Christensen Computer or Florida Medical Computer or where (getting old), but never less, the place to start is the old dead hard drive... is it an old SASI (MFM) or a SCSI?

an old SASI (MFM) requires SCSI boot proms, after that just follow the yellow brick road at the start of this thread.
 
Hi mike,

can’t remember if I remember you from Christensen Computer or Florida Medical Computer or where (getting old), but never less, the place to start is the old dead hard drive... is it an old SASI (MFM) or a SCSI?

an old SASI (MFM) requires SCSI boot proms, after that just follow the yellow brick road at the start of this thread.
Based on the label it's probably a scsi. Does that mean I should be able to simply attach a scsi2sd with a valid amosl image & the existing boot prom will handle it?
 

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if it is SCSI, (I'd double check the model) and a scsi2sd with a valid amosl mon w/dvr, ini, OS and image (structured DSK0:), yes it should.
 
Just stumbled across this thread and very interested as it is exactly what I've been trying to do!

Have been using scsi2sd & zuluscsi on a powerbook for awhile and am trying to convert an am1200 (that has a dead HD).

Happy to assist with your effort to port VAM into AMOSL, but don't expect it will be easy.
Hi Mike - We corresponded a bit a year or so ago on your AM100 emulator package....

Anyway - I still haven't gotten my AM1200 to boot - as the SCSI/SASI circuitry is FUBAR, but curbie has been helping me. I DO have my AM1400 running on a SCSI2SD and it works flawlessly. I currently have it running on a ZULU board, which was just as easy and I've also tried a BlueSCSI and it works fine as well.

If I can be of any assistance let me know... and if you know of any other AM1200s out there, I'm certainly interested as I'd love to compare the chip level signals I'm getting.

I'm also looking for schematics for the 1200 - I have the AM1000 schematics which have a lot of overlap, but they're not quite the same....

Tom
 
mike,

sorry about the delay, old brain, but that drive looks like a Micropolis 1335 or in people terms a MFM/SASI 70MB. drive.
can you get me the model number?

curbie

 
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