[Techtoolslist] 9010A to 9100A Program Translator

[John Robertson]

On 2018/08/17 12:55 PM, John Robertson wrote:
> On 2018/08/17 11:53 AM, Ian Eure wrote:
>> John Robertson writes:
>>
>>> Hi Ian,
>>>
>>> The active ftp site is ftp://ttl.arcadetech.org/TTL/Test_Equipment , it
>>> is up for me. It is messy, and I hope whoever volunteered to tidy up 
>>> the
>>> Fluke section will get in touch with me again.
>>>
>> Yep... It was timing out trying to connect eariler, but seems to be
>> working now.
>>
>>
>>> Hmm, a TLC.EXE file is tucked away here:
>>>
>>> ftp://ttl.arcadetech.org/TTL/Test_Equipment/Fluke/9100%20Series/9100_TLC_Program_For_IBM_PC/ 
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks for that info, I will hunt my piles of discs, and old backups to
>>> see what appears. I also have a number of hard drives from my 6 x 
>>> 9100As
>>> that I have never attempted to archive, so I think that is a project 
>>> for
>>> the near future, who knows what is on them cause I don't!
>>>
>>> What I was hoping was one of the other documents would go into 
>>> detail on
>>> the modifications made to the motherboard that upgraded it to 1.44
>>> floppies - you have to have version 5.0 of the ROM installed too.
>>>
>> Has anyone seen a 9100A with high density FDDs that operate in high
>> density mode?  I’ve seen UniSite programmers which had high density
>> drives installed, but jumpered into DD mode so they’d work with the
>> older controller on the mainboard.
>>
>> Looking at the schematics, it seems like the A and FT use nearly
>> identical chipsets, and I see a DENS line wired up on the A, which
>> would control or indicate the floppy density... So maybe it’s simply a
>> matter of installing the 5.0 ROMs, 6.1 system, and a high density
>> floppy drive.
> If you have Revision G motherboard then I expect you have the 1.44 
> upgrade done. Look for a bunch of jumpers on the underside.
>
> If you want to update your MB to the G level allowing 1.44 Sony (?) 
> floppies (& you need RV5.0 EPROM) then here are what I think are all 
> the mods:
>
> 1) Cut traces @ W5, W6 and W7
> 2) Jumper W5 (connected to U27-P3) to U72-P9 (unused 7417 gate).
> 3) Jumper U72-P8 to W7 that connects to J14-P1
> 4) Jumper other side of W7 (ground) to W6 (side connected to J14-P4)
> 5) Jumper U27-P1 to U72-P5 (unused 7417 gate)
> 6) Jumper U72-P6 to J14-P16 (currently N/C)
> 7) Jumper W6 (connected to CHNG2 - J13-P1) to W5 (connected to J14-P2 
> - /SPARE)
> 8) for RV5.0 EPROM check that W2 is cut
>
> Photos:
>
> ftp://ttl.arcadetech.org/TTL/Test_Equipment/Fluke/9100%20Series/Photos/
>
> I think that is all of them. I need to draw up the revised schematics, 
> but no time! Will do that over the next day or two..
>
> John :-#)#

I have found a problem with the above Revision G (with Rev 5.0 EPROMs) 
upgrade. Even though it appears to be identical to the 9100FT Floppy 
drive wiring I am having trouble with drives run on the 9100A using the 
same disk drive as I am using on the 9100FT.

Part of the problem comes because Fluke MODIFIED the floppy drives from 
stock. My Sony MP-F17W=L5 3-1/2" drive has some work done on the trace 
from pin 10 as well as a jumper from the Disk Loaded Switch (disk 
present switch - second one in - beside 1.44 switch) which is added to 
pin to pin 14. I have tried to copy this to a different Sony MP-17W-50C 
floppy but the boards are different, so without schematics (or pulling 
the board apart) it is difficult to figure out what is being changed.

Thus, at the moment, I do NOT recommend upgrading your motherboard until 
I figure out (or someone else) what mods are needed to the floppies.

As for is this a waste of time with emulators now available? There are 
any number of companies still running 9100s and they still have floppy 
backups and thus need to be able to read their disc and then convert to 
emulators.

On a further note, the Canon MD360 (I think that is the number, not at 
shop) drive works on my 9100FT in both the regular Canon option as well 
as the Cannon (sic) HD option. When you enabled the HD option the drive 
asks you if you want to format in regular or high density mode. I do not 
have enough info on the MD360 to know if it was HD or not. I suspect not 
as I can't format anything to HD...

John :-#)#
>>
>> Probably easiest to start by swapping the disk from a FT into an A,
>> setting the disk type with the service disk, and see what happens.
>>
>>    -- Ian
>> _______________________________________________
>> Techtoolslist mailing list
>> Techtoolslist at flippers.com
>> https://pairlist7.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/techtoolslist
>> FTP site is: ftp://ttl.arcadetech.org/TTL/Test_Equipment
>> Archive site: http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/techtoolslist/
>
>

-- 
How to subscribe or unsubscribe from TTL 
http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/techtoolslist