Most liked posts in thread: INSERT SYSTEM DISC... ORIC MICRODISC NEARLY THERE

I guess if you’re never going to use RF out then little point in getting it working. near all my Atari's have the Modulator removed, although they have a separate filter on the power line to them, they do add very slightly to the systems overall noise on its power rails, some are worse than others, if you are using composite or to some extent S-Video there is usually some improvement to be made by its removal. 65/130XE do need to sort out Audio after as its mixed within the Modulator
I'm back home now, so maybe a few less mistakes as trying to use a phone to post is great fun.

 

Hi, fellas.

Have finally got a bit of time off this week to take Bev out for some days exploring the nearby country houses/stately homes to celebrate her birthday on Wednesday.

I've also finally got my Acer laptop rebuilt with a non-persistent-screaming-for-a licence-number copy of Windoze 7 running on a solid state h/d - much whizzier and the 1st time I;ve used one so that's another bonus.

Meanwhile, the plasterboards and insulation are going up/in this week and the sparky has rewired our kitchen so at long last things are beginning to look the part here...still, a good way to go yet though as we still need: kitchen windows, kitchen underfloor heating and tiles, new electric consumer unit, extension skylight, middle room outer wall and windows pulling down and new french doors fitted and finally...new staircase up to the loft - which I'm dreading as that's where my refuge is under that staircase so when that area gets nuked - that's my inner mancave gone and we've got sweet F.A. space to put any of the computers, peripherals, software, books, mags and heaps of other junk anywhere else so where I'm to temporarily store it remains to be solved!

Anyway, whatever, worse things happen and thanks very much for continuing to try and solve the 3" drive dilemma, fellas.

Last time I spoke to Richie, I believe my faulty Oric-1 was working and was being soak-tested - I'm sure Rich has made a real sweet job of that - and the microdisc was being "fitted up" to take a temporary GOTEK solution but with the option to revert back to a working 3" drive should a reasonably priced compatible replacement drive appear as I would lurve to see the old gal back to her working original condition and state - but am inclined to think that is probably a long shot so long live Gotek for now.

Anyhow, I'm very very grateful to you both and will make sure that both you chaps are properly recompensed for all the effort you've put in to this project and continue to put in.

I'm sure I can come up with some retro goodies for Richie in the long run in either the Dragon, Beeb/Elk and or Oric departments and what I can do for you, Graham, is one day get you a decent priced Atmos. As Richie points out, right now the blatant overpricing going on on Feebay etc amounts to daylight robbery. I wouldn't pay more than £90-100 for an unboxed working Atmos and for a boxed model in great nick, I believe £150 to be the absolute max - and then I'd expect a decent selection of software, books and mags (being a Yarkshireman, you wouldn't expect anything less of me!)

Any road, onwards and upwards. There's no rush whatsoever and I'm presently exploring the other drive options I have here for the Oric so standby 1-2 new posts on ORIC OPTIONS...

Once more, many thanks Rich & Graham for all your help, energy, expertise and enthusiasm to the Oric cause!

 

Just a little footnote I read tonight (I think you mentioned this briefly once before, Rich - maybe you'd been talking to Steve Marshall on the subject?)

Anyway, here's an English translation from an article which appeared on Microdisc problems in the Jan-Feb edition of Theoric back in 1986:

"Since December, we have been receiving a lot of correspondence from Oric users who after having chosen to buy a MICRODISC to complete their equipment, they were forced to realize that it did not work with their ATMOS. Returning to the dealer ... who took care not to specify that the MICRODISC manufactured by EUREKA only works correctly with the new ATMOS. The solution?
Disburse good people! We propose the exchange of the ATMOS card against 533FF which places the MICRODISC at 3000FF. Obviously, if you have an ATMOS "made in Normandy" this does not concern you.
In conclusion, before buying arrive at your favourite dealer with the ATMOS under your arm, it will save you a lot of trouble later. A little test in the store will help you choose."

I think the top and bottom of this is that there are indeed cases whereby certain "motherboard issues" inherent in some Atmoses will cause problems as they are not always compatible with "timings" etc on the Microdisc board - in other words, one Atmos might work fine with a given Microdisc drive...but yours/someone else's just might not so TRY BEFORE YOU BUY!

Sheesh...in other words, it's Russian Roulette dependent on when/where your Atmos was manufactured.

 

That's an annoying issue, makes buying an utter lottery, I presume there's no check and fix?

 

Guys, just a couple more files to assist in the microdisc 3" disk drive repairs in the future at Graham's end as I know he's busy at the mo with quite a few projects and Brenski's 800XL mobo etc so as ever - no rush whatsoever and just wondered if the 2-3 files here might come in handy if they are relevant?

Cheers once more, Graham and Richie, for all the work, effort and expense you've put in already.

 

Hi, folks.

Great having a long bank holiday weekend so inbetween sorting out brews for the plasterers, was flicking through a few Oric mags and came across an article or two on the microdisc.

I also hope to have a catch-up with Graham soon when we're both free just to see how things are going as I know these drives have a long history of being "temperamental".

Anyhow, onwards and upwards as they say and enjoy a bit more reading material as reported in Oric Owner back in July 84:









Apologies if the text is too small.

If you require a clearer image then try zooming in on the x2 imgur uploads:

https://i.imgur.com/Xjc7XYA.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/4Hag23P.jpg

 

Hi Andy
Thank you the 'Thank You', however Richie deserves the 'Thank You' as the Gotek and the replacement bezel as from him..
I only added the usb stick, a cable from micrdrive to gotek, and the power leads for same. Also note that the files on the usb stick are from Richie as well.

I'd Like to Thank Richie on your behalf... BIG THANKS FELLA..

Without Richie's assistance I'd not have been able to test the Gotek without a lot of fafing about trying to procure software etc.

 

Hey,
A big thumbs up and thank you to both Rich and Graham for both going the extra mile and providing all these wonderful goodies.
Guys, you are both extremely generous and both extremely decent when it comes to trying to source parts to fix this problematic drive.
Couple of 3" drives came up on Feebay the other day but I doubt they were an exact match for this particular Hitachi model.
Never mind, in the meanwhile we have this splendid Gotek to play with - thank you so much, fellas.

 

Hmm well that's a bit disappointing Andy. I guess the power is good, and the interface I'm guessing is working o.k as it recognises it has a disk drive system.
I wonder if I left the drive unplugged from the interface inside I wouldn't have thought so, likewise any of the connectors.
or dip switches (don't remember seeing any) Is the Drive motor spinning I ask as most of it is using the 5V line, the floppy drive uses 12V as well for the main servo motor driving the disk around. (P.S you did get further than me with no Oric to attach it to)
I'm going to check through the pictures I took when putting it back together.
Just thought the drive was spinning seemingly waiting for a disk to be inserted.

 

I've looked through the pictures all looks well i.e. plugged in, the drive it self does have dip switches, but unless by accident wouldn't have moved them.
Sorry its not just burst into life

 

Hi, Graham.

Hey, it's no major surprise that the little bugger is still playing me up as it always did, mate!

Yes, the drive does spin the disk when it's inserted so you just get the feeling that there's a setting somewhere internally (a bit like on the back of a 1050 with the drive select switch?) that perhaps just needs a tweak?

As I say, we've a lot about to happen here when the existing kitchen gets blitzed but I will get another look-see at some point one night this week and send some more pics at the areas where I need to double-check DIP switch settings/cables/ connections etc.

Cheers once more, Graham and there's no way you could check this 100% as you were without an Oric to check with (plus, and here's the rub, some Orics work fine with a disk drive... other's... DON'T! Something to do with boards/revision issues, I believe...)

Never mind, onwards and upwards and we all like a little challenge ;-)

 

Thanks Andy I guess your right but that dosnt stop me being dissapointed and that's for both of us, lets hope I've nudged a dipswitch across or similar.
Remember I did disect the drive itself, so the connectors at CN5, CN3, and the one under the cable by the dipswitches (CN4 ?)have been disconnected. Also two on the underside of the board their near CN3 but on the other side CN1 & CN2
I did however take pics at the time as I disassembled, and followed them when putting back after cleaning the head properly (and yes had some brown goo on it, smoking maybe, could have been dust off the disk surfaces but more of a gum.)

 

I appreciate your pointers there, Graham, and the shared sense of "wouldn't it have been great if it had burst into life first time of asking" but life's often like that and we have to take the rough with the smooth and anyhow, it will feel an even bigger achievement if we do get it going in the end as it hasn't worked properly for so long I've never known it ever work reliably!

To keep us all ticking over, here's Oriclopedia and Dbug's look at a working system:

 

I'll have to postpone that until tomorrow, as it fairly long, and I love my F1 and been champing at the bit to watch it, (Pam hates it)

 

I'm the same as Pam, mate - I like disk drives going round and round but don't have any time for F1 drivers doing likewise(!!) Enjoy, pal - each to their own!

 

Nice one, Rich... you know what I'm gonna say next, don't you??!!

What if I send you the gubbins to have a look/see...LOL!

What I'll do, not tonight or tomorrow as we've stuff on taking surviving kitchen units to Fast Eddie's and I'm meeting up with an old pal tomorrow night out on the coast, is have a look under the bonnet and see if it's anything obvious. If it isn't then I will defer opinion to the experts on here and might well send it to you Richie as you have an Oric, yes? I might even have an Oric repair job on for you if you fancy an Oric-1 with a crapped out display on boot-up (ULA? RAM?) then we can adjust that Dragon sale to just about quits if you're up for that?

Anyhow, more to follow when I've had time to investigate the mysteries of the Microdisk...

Once more, thanks for all your pointers, hints and tips, lads.

If all else fails, I can always bang it in a cement mixer(!)

 

Many thanks, Rich.
That's brilliant of you that you'd be willing as I don't think we're far off with the drive thanks to Graham's maintenance job and PSU refurb, so I'll update you on here/via a text/email etc during the week.

Thanks again to Graham for sending the PCB of the drive (they look like DIP switches over to the far right, near the edge connector) and Vyper Rich for the circuit diagrams.

 

Nice one Richie
Just tried to work out what VR1 actually does, seems like a delay circuit of sometype going in or possiably out of and unidentified chip. i.e adjust current flow through Capacitor C13
P.S did you see the Blog with pics of the guts of my IBM XT ?

 

Andy, I've a cheap Gotek, I've not done the mods to add the oled, etc. would you like me to send that along with a 720K 3.5" drive for Richie to play with as well?
I'm guessing the interface must be working o.k as the Boot Rom knows it has an attached drive ? your call, and happy to upgrade to full on GOTEK.. we are talking cheap as in about £20 for the gotek as is OPlus I'll add the otherbits at a later date, (or send them to Richie to do.
Let me know

 

Hi Richie
That's o.k then I wasn't sure what you had to test with, I hoped a Microdrive so swapping drives will confirm one way or another, but was thinking of alternatives drives, I suspect the drive or as you pointed out it could just be adjustment, however I think it used to 'read' or boot o.k but problems with formatting or writing to the disks, let me know what you think in regard the regulators I've fitted as well, be nice for a second opinion on them.

 

Hi, Graham and Richie.
First up, thanks Graham for that amazingly generous offer of a Gotek.
I will definitely consider it and make it the numero uno option if Richie can't get a peep out of the microdisc but I have a sneaking feeling that he might...
I've lifted the lid on the bugger today (after a really busy weekend) as we had Bev's folks down to inspect the ruins, my folks down for some pub grub (might as well, if Boris is paying) and had to get some ceramic kitchen tiles ordered as it won't be long before the builders'll be actually making things here all good after knocking ten bells of sh*t out of it as they are at the mo. Righto... what happened earlier today, after Bev magically found my sonic screwdrivers - I'd looked for days and found nowt except Rice Crispies and tea towels...she looked for 2mins and found em straightaway - how do women manage this trick??

 

Hi Andy, shame it’s not an easy fix, I have found the service manual for your 3” drive and the dip switches are set correctly.
It could be the 3” drive that’s the problem... Like Graham says the logic board is working up to insert system disk.
It’s interesting that R15 & R16 are both supposed to be 3.9K but R15 is 3.3K on yours and there is a sheet that I shared with Graham that has modifications showing R15 @ 1K and R16 @ 3.3K with extra grounding on IC5 & IC6. Given it worked at one time I am tempted to leave them for now. I just hope one of the logic chips hasn’t given up the ghost. I have some spares from my second Cumana board but some like the FDC are a bit hard to get now. There is a supply from Bulgaria where they made the Pravetz but not all of them are. The logic chips are easy enough though a lot aren’t socketed which is a pain, that said I think the 3” drive might be the problem. Can you give a bit more background on the Microdisc Andy like Graham said and more on the overheating.
The Oric sounds like a RAM fault.
As far as Claus goes Graham the name rings a bell but I cannot put my finger on it.

 

Hi Guys
I think the resistor values are pretty close, so not sure the reason for the changes, I'll go and have a look.
I suspect that they may have earthed the inputs of spare gates to stop self oscillation, again something I'll go and check.
Claud Buchholtz was one of the original designers of memory upgrades on Atari's
The year before the 130XE was released, he had a published memory upgrade for the 800XL that used 32K bank switching, this was later updated to use 16K banks so to be compatiable with any software released for the 130XE.
tTe main use was for RAM disk's under dos, and Claus, has written updates to DOS 2.5 to use the extra memory.
Also the 'Quarter Meg XL' several companies copied the design RAMBO XL anyone; they however were not the only ones.
I only know him through the Michigan Atari users club, as local to the club was the C.H.A.O.S BBS that I spent money on calling via Modem, I became a pseudo member so to speak, Claus lived in the area and still does.
The same State that Tim lives in.. It’s a small world sometimes.
Let’s hope we have some luck with the 3" drive, but I'm also aware how they can play up. True of any Floppy drives but they did have a poorer name than some.
I'll say that the mechanism looked well made, but let’s see.

 

I've just had a search on the net not much about for sale missed one in France for 95euro inc shipping.
did see some pictures and although it stated it was for a
Hitachi HFD305SE, it was different to the drive Andy has fitted this could just be a revision difference.
Andy
I'd like to sort out with you, what you would like to do, firstly I do have a black GOTEK, basic and I also purchased the oled and rotary encoder to upgrade it.
Let me know if you interested in that happy to do the upgrade and send to You or Richie.
Alternative.
Fitting the Gotek in the original casing.
Due to the physical size of the drive being taller & believe narrower than a 3.5" (I didn't measure it) To make a clean install requires some work in making a suitiable face plate to match the drive opening, and then just fitting the guts of a gotek to purpose drilled and filed holes for display etc.
We (I) could also use the drive mechanism, remove some of it guts and use the face plate of the original drive to add display usb and encoder wheel. leaving the floppy drive slot.
I've added a few thumbnails of my BBC drive which I'll be moving into the 5.25" frame to mount in a dual housing with a real floppy drive. it's the one with the usb stick Oled & encoder.
the other I've got the bits to add, or custom fit to your requirements ..
Maybe it would work if all boxed up at richies end, sent to me, added Gotek, all sent to you ( that way I get to check it and experiance an Oric as well)

 

I have ordered a 3” Drive Gotek mounting bracket off eBay as the drive is the same size fascia as the CPC and Spectrum +3. I have the rotary encoder, oled screen and spare Gotek here already. So the plan is to see how that shapes up and in the meanwhile keep an eye out for a 3” Drive, in the meantime I’m working on the dead Oric-1 which so far has a working ULA,VIA so it doesn’t look like it had 9v via the expansion port.