I've got a Horizon so native console is no problem. I originally got Dave Dunfield's NST working with my IMSAI and Dajen SCI monitor board, on a North Star MDC single-density controller. I couldn't get NST configured properly with the Dajen monitor (you're supposed to be able to give it a format for poking bytes into memory), so I ended up customizing Dave's RAMless 512 byte monitor for the SCI's serial port and getting loaded up that way.
Thanks, Jonathan On Wed, Jul 4, 2018 at 12:35 PM, allison via cctalk <[email protected]> wrote: > On 07/04/2018 08:37 AM, systems_glitch via cctalk wrote: > > Yeah, you do need a monitor or something to get started on either Mike > > Douglas's solution or Dave Dunfield's NST. I've used both successfully. > > > > If you have hard-sectored disks, I can just make you a boot disk. I have > > both single and double density controllers. > Makes sure they are configured for the NS* native IO. If they are not > your still > stuck as then the OS is looking for an IO board that is foreign. > > I know that as before the horizon I had the bare NS* MDS in the Altair > using the SIO as serial. > > Putting a boot monitor in is by far the easy way out. I did that early on > and it has serial transfer and embedded loader for soft sector controller. > > I rarely use the stock NS* system but the older one with all the changes > is still in use. Hard disk (2x 31mb) makes it more useful. > > There is one excuse I use occasionally for pulling out the stock NS, > UCSD Pascal. The first IDE. > > Allison > > > Thanks, > > Jonathan > > > > On Wed, Jul 4, 2018 at 12:39 AM, dwight via cctalk < > [email protected]> > > wrote: > > > >> I'm told that the N* controller can write H89 formated disk but the H89 > >> controller can't do N* format. I could have that backwards but that is > what > >> I recall. One can't do the other. > >> > >> The H89 hard sectored controller is single density only, while the newer > >> N* can do both single and double density, still hard sectored though. > There > >> is always confusion on the N* controllers as to which can do double > >> density. My research indicates that the MDC-nA are single density only > and > >> the MDC-nDA can do both ( n is a rev. number 1, 2, 3, or 4). > >> > >> Dwight > >> > >> > >> > >> ________________________________ > >> From: cctalk <[email protected]> on behalf of Fred Cisin > via > >> cctalk <[email protected]> > >> Sent: Tuesday, July 3, 2018 11:08:18 AM > >> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > >> Subject: Re: Looking for North star software > >> > >> On Tue, 3 Jul 2018, dwight via cctalk wrote: > >>> I'm not as worried about 10 hard secrtored disk. I still have the punch > >>> I had made for my H89. I can create 10 sector from old 360K disk. > >> If you have a working H89 (hard sectored), then you should be able to > >> write a program to run on the H89 to write hard sectored disk images! > >> Can it do single density 256 byte sectors? or MFM 512 byte sectors? > >> > >> .ASM for PCTOFLOP should be available, as a guide to what you need, but > >> will need modification for the H89 disk controller. > >> > >> Most of the NorthStar disk images should be availablem once you've got > the > >> H89 writing disks from them! > >> > >> Once you've got the NorthStar booting CP/M plus a copy of PIP, you can > >> then continue on it. > >> > >> > >> > >
