RE: Can Windows 98SE run on an Intel I7 with SATA hard drives?

[CuriousMarc]

I managed to run Win98 SE (the Second Edition is important!) on a Core Duo
E6700 2.6 GHz with SATA. But it was a very hard job to get it going. The
motherboard still had a legacy PCI slot on it which was helpful. Here is the
procedure I had to go through.
You'll need a Win95 or 98 "DOS" boot disc properly configured to recognize
your CD-ROM to start the install process. 
You will probably need a trip to your BIOS to enable legacy mouse and legacy
hard drive modes.
First you have to remove memory until it has only 1 GB left while you
install. Later you boot into safe mode and add two lines to your
C:\Windows\system.ini to limit memory:
[386 Enh]
MaxPhysPage = 3
[vcache]
MaxFileCache = 393216
Then after install you have to fight the hardware and drivers pretty hard
until it boots without crashing. Boot with step by step confirmation and
logging on, and watch the bootlog.txt to see where it fails. You will need
many trips to Safe Mode and Device Manger to remove all the PCIe hardware it
discovers but can't deal with.  In my case:
- disable the hard disk PCI controllers
- disable the built in Ethernet controller
- Changing the video driver to the MiniPort Standard VESA allowed me to boot
up to GUI without crashing. I then had a hard time to find a driver to allow
high res graphics, but eventually found one online that worked, don't
remember what it was.
- For Ethernet I just put an older 100 Mb generic PCI card that 98 could
deal with, as it obviously could not do anything with the onboard 1GB
Ethernet. 
- I don't use sound, but if you wanted some you would do the same trick,
stick an old PCI sound card in there.
- USB mouse seems to work, albeit a bit choppy
- finally you can put back the rest of your memory in and you should be good
to go. Beware, once you do this, no more booting into safe mode unless you
remove the extra memory.
- I could run Explorer 5.5, but never 6.0. This gives you a tiny bit of the
web for emergency purposes.
Needless to say, you'd only boot to this Windows 98 for retro-computing
purposes.

Eventually I moved my main Win98 machine to a Dolch 65 (Pentium II 350 MHz),
which has 5.25" floppy support, two serial and one parallel ports, plenty of
PCI slots and more importantly an ISA slot. A much better match for Win98.
As expected, installing Windows 98 on it was a breeze, as was NT, and the
tougher one was Windows XP. I also successfully installed the 2010 version
of Crunchbang Linux on it (runs within the 256 MB of RAM!). It is now my
main retro-computing workhorse. There is a good chance one of the 5 OS's
(counting 16-bit Win98 DOS) will have a driver or a utility for any old
hardware I want to drive.

Marc

-Original Message-
From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Chuck Guzis
Sent: Thursday, January 28, 2016 10:41 AM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Can Windows 98SE run on an Intel I7 with SATA hard drives?

The latest rig that I've run 98SE on is a  Intel P3 (440GX) with 2GB of
memory.  I can do it, but it took the "unofficial final service pack" to
reduce the amount of memory to something reasonable.

Drivers, I think would be the stumbling block on modern hardware.  I'd use
VirtualBox in any case to deal with that issue.  I've certainly done with
other old systems.

--Chuck

Re: Can Windows 98SE run on an Intel I7 with SATA hard drives?

[mark]

From: j...@mercury.lcs.mit.edu (Noel Chiappa)

   > Win-98 SE ... it would have been nice if it recognized USB storage
   > devices natively.

There is that package you can add (my copy is in a self-extracting 
archive,
called "nusb23e.exe") that recognizes USB drives, etc. I run a number of 
USB

devices (memory sticks, mice, etc) on my 98SE's and they all work fine.


Thanks for the tip - I wish I'd known about that 15 years ago!


From: "Jerome H. Fine" 

>m...@markesystems.com wrote:


QUESTION:  Is it even possible to run Win98SE on a current
Intel I7 CPU with SATA hard disk drives?  I realize that it might


Almost certainly not, at least practically.  Even if you can get it to
boot and install, it will have no idea how to handle any of the modern


Then I am really confused.  I have two older systems that
are able to run 64-bit Windows 7, an E8400 and a Q9550.
Both take SATA drives which are still available.  The mother

I can also still boot from both system using an old DOS 3.5"
floppy media and run Ghost 7.0 with these old SATA drives,
but as far as I can understand, using the device drivers on the
floppy drive.


I believe that Win98 tries to use its own drivers for disk, but if it can't 
find any that work it just uses the ones built into the BIOS.  Performance 
suffers, because all disk I/O becomes blocking, but it still works.  With a 
modern disk with built-in cache, one probably wouldn't even notice the 
difference (except for the floppy).



Is it likely that either of these two systems be able to run
Win98SE with the SATA hard drives, in one case 500 GB
each and the other system has 1 TB drives.  In that case, it


I would expect that you could successfully boot and install Win98, although 
you couldn't use all the drive in one volume (FAT32 is good for a little 
over 100 gig); I've never tried partitioning up a terabyte drive and running 
Win98 on a appropriately-sized partition, but it seems like it might work 
OK.  As above, the BIOS will take care of the fact that Win98 never heard of 
SATA, and also abstract the USB keyboard and I think the mouse to look like 
AT-type devices.


As I mentioned, though, it won't know about the video adapter, so that will 
run in VGA 640x480 16-color mode; the sound card won't be available either, 
nor the network interface.  VirtualBox simulates all nice period-style 
hardware for those things.



As I mentioned, the only two applications I would run would
be the DOS variant of Ersatz-11 and Netscape 7.2 for e-mail
and newsgroups.


I suspect that both of those would run on Windows XP, and VirtualBox handles 
that extremely well.



From: Chuck Guzis 

I didn't mention that I've got 98SE running on an 820 chipset
(RIMM/RDRAM is silly cheap now) with a Tuallie 1.4GHz in a Powerleap
slocket.  It doesn't much agree with the Crystal CS4622 audio, but
perhaps that's just a matter of finding the right driver.


As I predicted... :-)


Windows 98 was supposed to support a maximum of 2GB of memory, however
it has a bug in the Vcache driver which causes problems unless you limit



Exactly what I've done with 440GX system.  Using a different XMS driver,
I keep a 1GB RAMdisk there.


But it runs quite nicely in just 64 or 128 meg, which was much more typical 
of a machine of that period.



On faster, more modern systems, I use VirtualBox.  Just not worth the
extra trouble finding drivers--but I suspect 98SE will run on P4 systems


Yup, that's what seems to work best for me.


From: "j...@cimmeri.com" 

The one thing I'm not seeing mentioned
in re VirtualBox is that what if you
have a legacy Win 98SE system with
hardware in it, like a GPIB card or
sound card?   Or if you have software
that talks to hardware via serial or
parallel ports eg. eprom burners, Zector
ZVG vector graphic driver for MAME, etc.


Yup, that's true.  VirtualBox will provide one or two com ports (optionally 
mapped to the real host ports, or just pipes to other virtual machines), but 
it doesn't support the parallel port.  And as you've pointed out, any 
specialized hardware won't work at all (because the backplane doesn't really 
exist).



The other hassle is having to
essentially rebuild an Win98 (or any
other) machine from scratch in order to
try to replicate an existing setup.  I


Also true...


From: Josh Dersch 

everything else, you're SOL.  I could see it being possible to modify
VirtualBox to support parallel port forwarding or other exotic hardware


Wow! I guess it is open source, but that would be quite a bit of work, I 
expect.  If you do it, let me know - I've got an old Needham's PROM 
programmer that would be nice to have working again.



From: John Foust 

No one has mentioned the Windows Virtual PC, a Microsoft product,
that lets you run Windows XP apps in a virtual environment under
Windows 7 Pro, letting XP apps run in their natural window on
the 7 desktop, or you 

Re: Can Windows 98SE run on an Intel I7 with SATA hard drives?

[Eric Christopherson]

On Fri, Jan 29, 2016, m...@markesystems.com wrote:
> From: "j...@cimmeri.com" 
> >The one thing I'm not seeing mentioned
> >in re VirtualBox is that what if you
> >have a legacy Win 98SE system with
> >hardware in it, like a GPIB card or
> >sound card?   Or if you have software
> >that talks to hardware via serial or
> >parallel ports eg. eprom burners, Zector
> >ZVG vector graphic driver for MAME, etc.
> 
> Yup, that's true.  VirtualBox will provide one or two com ports (optionally
> mapped to the real host ports, or just pipes to other virtual machines), but
> it doesn't support the parallel port.  And as you've pointed out, any
> specialized hardware won't work at all (because the backplane doesn't really
> exist).

I haven't attempted this yet, but a while back I ran across a thread
saying you could use parallel port passthrough in a limited fashion:



-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Big-Board II & Micro Cornucopia User Group Disks?

[Eric Smith]

On Sat, Jan 30, 2016 at 8:36 AM, Jim Simpson  wrote:
> I'm also trying to recover all of the Micro Cornucopia UG diskette data.
[...]
> I'm looking for any BB-II stuff or Micro-C user group disk stuff.

I recently was given a Xerox 820 board (based on the Big Board
design), and a CD titled "Sourdough Jim's CP/M Archive Disk (Includes
PC-Blue and DKA MS-DOS Libraries)", dated 06/25/2000. It is mostly a
collection of other archives. The label lists "Micro Cornucopia Kaypro
CP/M Library (partial, 20 disks)".  I don't know whether it contains
anything relevant specifically to the Big Board II.

I've temporarily put the iso image on Google Drive:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2C3q_hToB5PaEpKX2pKT05CaVk/view?usp=sharing

Win98SE Update/Patches WAS: Can Windows 98SE run on an Intel I7 with SATA hard drives?

[Ali]

While on this topic what are you guys using to patch up your new/reinstalls of 
Win98SE? For Win2K there is Unofficial SP5.2 and WinXP has Unofficial SP4. I 
have found a number of unofficial SPs for Win98SE, namely AutoPatcher 2007 w/ 
the 2008 Update and SP2 v3.52, but I am not sure which is the better one in 
terms of installation ease/completeness. Any votes for either of those or a 
third choice?

-Ali

PDP-11/03, LSI-11 KEV11-C CIS option

[Eric Smith]

Does anyone have a PDP-11/03 or LSI-11 with the KEV11-C CIS
(Commercial Instruction Set) option? It may have also been known as
DIS (Dibol Instruction Set).  It apparently consists of two microcode
ROM chips (MICROMs), 23-004B5 and 23-005B5.

Last month I posted here about building a circuit to dump the contents
of MICROMs:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22368471@N04/albums/72157662054690240
I've dumped the base LSI-11 instruction set chips and the EIS/FIS
chip.  I've partially disassembled the former:
https://github.com/brouhaha/lsi11uc
and verified that the latter matches the EIS/FIS microcode source code
provided with the KUV11 writable control store support software. I'd
like to dump the CIS microcode ROMs as well. The resulting dump would
be usable by anyone with a KUV11. I'm contemplating developing a
MICROM replacement board, which would be useful for those without a
KUV11.

I've made more progress with the WD9000 Pascal Microengine microcode
than the LSI-11 microcode because someone provided a photomicrograph
of the CP2161 control chip and I was able to dump the PLAs. I should
be getting a photomicrograph of the CP1621 control chip of the LSI-11
soon, and will be able to do the same for it.

Re: Can Windows 98SE run on an Intel I7 with SATA hard drives?

[Chuck Guzis]

I managed to soak up extra memory when installing 98SE by using 
Japheth's HIMEMX driver, coupled with XMSDISK:


In AUTOEXEC.BAT:

SET TEMPDRIVE=S
SET TEMPSIZE=768000
C:\XMS\XMSDISK\XMSDSK %TEMPDRIVE%: %TEMPSIZE% /y /t

Gives you a 768MB RAMdrive as drive letter S:  The drive is loaded in 
the *top* of XMS.


FWIW,
Chuck

Re: Can Windows 98SE run on an Intel I7 with SATA hard drives?

[Curious Marc]

I am 0 for 3 in having IE 6.0 work on my Win98 machines. Just can't connect to 
the internet anymore when I do this. Connectivity returns when I downgrade to 
5.5. But others do report having success with 6.0 on Win98, so I'm not sure 
what's wrong with me... I'll try Opera, thanks for the tip.
Marc

On Jan 30, 2016, at 6:57 AM, Noel Chiappa  wrote:

>> From: CuriousMarc
> 
>> I could run Explorer 5.5, but never 6.0.
> 
> ?? 6.0 runs fine on all my 98SE machines.
> 
> If you need to get to a later Web site (many don't work with older IE's now),
> there is a version of Opera (9.80, Version/10.63) which works under 98SE and
> makes most sites accessible. There are only a _very_ few where I have to use
> another browser running under a later Windows.
> 
>Noel

Re: What to Do with a PS/2?

[Liam Proven]

On 30 January 2016 at 06:18, Robert Ferguson  wrote:
> This is exactly correct, although marketing had nothing to do with the “NT” 
> retcon; we did it ourselves.
>
> - Rob
>
> ps: the i860 was not a pleasant thing. There was much rejoicing in the halls 
> the day we decided to drop it as a target architecture.


Wow! Thanks for that! My compliments on your work.

-- 
Liam Proven • Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile
Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk • GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven
MSN: lpro...@hotmail.com • Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven
Cell/Mobiles: +44 7939-087884 (UK) • +420 702 829 053 (ČR)

Re: PDP-11/03, LSI-11 KEV11-C CIS option

[Paul Anderson]

I know one person who has one.  I think I had a few at one time, but it's
been years since I've seen them.

On Sat, Jan 30, 2016 at 2:29 PM, Eric Smith  wrote:

> Does anyone have a PDP-11/03 or LSI-11 with the KEV11-C CIS
> (Commercial Instruction Set) option? It may have also been known as
> DIS (Dibol Instruction Set).  It apparently consists of two microcode
> ROM chips (MICROMs), 23-004B5 and 23-005B5.
>
> Last month I posted here about building a circuit to dump the contents
> of MICROMs:
> https://www.flickr.com/photos/22368471@N04/albums/72157662054690240
> I've dumped the base LSI-11 instruction set chips and the EIS/FIS
> chip.  I've partially disassembled the former:
> https://github.com/brouhaha/lsi11uc
> and verified that the latter matches the EIS/FIS microcode source code
> provided with the KUV11 writable control store support software. I'd
> like to dump the CIS microcode ROMs as well. The resulting dump would
> be usable by anyone with a KUV11. I'm contemplating developing a
> MICROM replacement board, which would be useful for those without a
> KUV11.
>
> I've made more progress with the WD9000 Pascal Microengine microcode
> than the LSI-11 microcode because someone provided a photomicrograph
> of the CP2161 control chip and I was able to dump the PLAs. I should
> be getting a photomicrograph of the CP1621 control chip of the LSI-11
> soon, and will be able to do the same for it.
>

Re: IBM 3101-12 ASCII terminal - need fuse holder

[Ken Seefried]

Wow...that fired some old brain cells.  I saved one of these around
86-87 and had it hooked to a VAX/BSD4 system for a while.  All I
really remember about it was that it was pretty well made but after
wasting too much time mucking about I could never finesse a termcap
entry for it that didn't have some more or less annoying corner-case
breakage.  I suspected that even though it had a serial port and "VT
compatibility", IBM didn't much want to encourage anyone hooking one
up to a non-IBM system.

KJ

Big-Board II & Micro Cornucopia User Group Disks?

[Jim Simpson]

I'm a retired software engineer.  My first home computer was a Z80 CP/M
system built on the Big-Board II back in the mid '80s. I bought a bare board
kit and went from there.  It took me several months to collect all the parts
before I had a running system. 
 After discovering some very old M80 assembler listings while rummaging in
my basement, I've been bit by the "nostalgia bug" so I dug out my old system
and powered it on.  It still runs after all of these years.  The problem is
that I've lost most of my old 5.25 media and therefore the system utilities
. I'm looking for any Big-Board II system disk images/files I can find.
I'm also trying to recover all of the Micro Cornucopia UG diskette data.
Ultimately I want to put all of that old data on optical media for safe
keeping.
I'm looking for any BB-II stuff or Micro-C user group disk stuff.  Help here
will be much appreciated!
Thanks, Jim Simpson

Re: Win98SE Update/Patches WAS: Can Windows 98SE run on an Intel I7 with SATA hard drives?

[Chuck Guzis]

On 01/30/2016 11:59 AM, Ali wrote:

While on this topic what are you guys using to patch up your
new/reinstalls of Win98SE? For Win2K there is Unofficial SP5.2 and
WinXP has Unofficial SP4. I have found a number of unofficial SPs for
Win98SE, namely AutoPatcher 2007 w/ the 2008 Update and SP2 v3.52,
but I am not sure which is the better one in terms of installation
ease/completeness. Any votes for either of those or a third choice?


I've used this one lately:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/unofficial_windows98_se_service_pack.html

Seems to be pretty good.

--Chuck

Re: Win98SE Update/Patches WAS: Can Windows 98SE run on an Intel I7 with SATA hard drives?

[steve shumaker]

On 1/30/2016 3:11 PM, Ali wrote:

I've used this one lately:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/unofficial_windows98_se_service
_pack.html

Seems to be pretty good.


Chuck,

That is the same as Unofficial SP2 3.52 (the version you linked to is a bit 
older). It seems to contain a number if not most of the fixes. The thing I 
don't like about it is the fact it is not very automated. I.E. there are a 
bunch of gotchas you have to pay attention to (e.g. order in which you install 
updates).

-Ali




Ali,

Do you have a link to the one you use?


Steve Shumaker

RE: Win98SE Update/Patches WAS: Can Windows 98SE run on an Intel I7 with SATA hard drives?

[Ali]

> Ali,
> 
> Do you have a link to the one you use?
> 
> 
> Steve Shumaker

Steve,

Here is the link: http://www.techtalk.cc/download/U98SESP3.EXE. It is now at 
3.53 apparently as of last week. I have installed this one on my Win98SE VM but 
plan on going back to Auto-Patcher. I may lose one or two fixes but it is far 
more streamlined IMHO.

-Ali

Re: Win98SE Update/Patches WAS: Can Windows 98SE run on an Intel I7 with SATA hard drives?

[Chuck Guzis]

On 01/30/2016 03:11 PM, Ali wrote:


That is the same as Unofficial SP2 3.52 (the version you linked to is
a bit older). It seems to contain a number if not most of the fixes.
The thing I don't like about it is the fact it is not very automated.
I.E. there are a bunch of gotchas you have to pay attention to (e.g.
order in which you install updates).


Oddly enough, I don't mind that too much.  However, I take your point. 
One wishes that all of the unofficial service pack stuff could easily be 
slipstreamed into the standard Win98SE distro.


I haven't checked, but does a similar animal exist for WinME?  Or is ME 
the pariah of the 9x family?


--Chuck

RE: Win98SE Update/Patches WAS: Can Windows 98SE run on an Intel I7 with SATA hard drives?

[Ali]

> Ali,
> 
> Do you have a link to the one you use?
> 
> 
> Steve Shumaker

Steve,

Forgot to add directions:

Prerequisites:

Minimum 64 MB of RAM for Main Updates.
300 MB free hard disk space for (ALL) options.

Installation Guide:

[1] Install Windows 98 Second Edition (with or without 98lite).*
[2] Install all drivers for your hardware.
[3] Install Internet Explorer (any version).*
[4] Install latest DirectX 9c.*
[5] Install latest Service Pack 3.x (Main Updates).*
[6] Install optional components of Service Pack 3.x.*
[7] Install MS Office.*
[8] Install KernelEx, 98SE2ME, Revolution Pack.*
[* = Optional]

And linkage to the thread:

https://www.techtalk.cc/viewtopic.php?t=65

-Ali

Re: Any hope for CBM VIC-1525 Printers & ribbons?

[Curious Marc]

I have used ribbonsunlimited.com recently to remake a lot of my HP2631 very odd 
ribbons. Wasn't cheap but sure worked perfectly.
la...@ribbonsunlimited.com
Marc

Sent from my iPad

> On Jan 30, 2016, at 5:24 PM, drlegendre .  wrote:
> 
> Has anyone found a source for replacement ribbons, or even re-inking
> supplies, for the Commodore VIC-1525 printer?
> 
> This printer was manufactured in Japan by Seikosha for CBM, and was also
> sold in the USA by Radio Shack, re-badged under the Tandy / TRS-80 brand.
> 
> For reference - The VIC-1525 employs an odd two-cassette ribbon system,
> that uses a continuous-loop ribbon only about 24" in total length. One
> cassette contains a spring tensioner mechanism, with the second cassette
> holding the inking roller and (friction?) gear.
> 
> The ribbon loop is strung side-to-side between the two cartridges, with the
> front strand passing in front of the print head, and the rear strand
> passing through the ribbon advance clutch.
> 
> Google turns up nothing, except for some homebrew recipes for making new
> ink.. and one site offering exorbitantly priced NOS ribbons that are just
> as likely dried up.
> 
> Thanks for any & all input..

Re: Win98SE Update/Patches WAS: Can Windows 98SE run on an Intel I7 with SATA hard drives?

[Eric Christopherson]

On Sat, Jan 30, 2016, steve shumaker wrote:

> >And linkage to the thread:
> >
> >https://www.techtalk.cc/viewtopic.php?t=65
> >
> >-Ali
> >
> >
> >
> thanks!   I've planning to rebuild a w98 box but haven't got to it yet.
> This will help!

I wish you guys hadn't started this. A few months ago I was interested
in resurrecting an old ThinkPad, but I put it away again, thinking there
were more important things to do. Now I'm wanting to put 98SE on it :/

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Any hope for CBM VIC-1525 Printers & ribbons?

[drlegendre .]

Has anyone found a source for replacement ribbons, or even re-inking
supplies, for the Commodore VIC-1525 printer?

This printer was manufactured in Japan by Seikosha for CBM, and was also
sold in the USA by Radio Shack, re-badged under the Tandy / TRS-80 brand.

For reference - The VIC-1525 employs an odd two-cassette ribbon system,
that uses a continuous-loop ribbon only about 24" in total length. One
cassette contains a spring tensioner mechanism, with the second cassette
holding the inking roller and (friction?) gear.

The ribbon loop is strung side-to-side between the two cartridges, with the
front strand passing in front of the print head, and the rear strand
passing through the ribbon advance clutch.

Google turns up nothing, except for some homebrew recipes for making new
ink.. and one site offering exorbitantly priced NOS ribbons that are just
as likely dried up.

Thanks for any & all input..

Re: Win98SE Update/Patches WAS: Can Windows 98SE run on an Intel I7 with SATA hard drives?

[steve shumaker]

On 1/30/2016 3:52 PM, Ali wrote:

Ali,

Do you have a link to the one you use?


Steve Shumaker

Steve,

Forgot to add directions:

Prerequisites:

Minimum 64 MB of RAM for Main Updates.
300 MB free hard disk space for (ALL) options.

Installation Guide:

[1] Install Windows 98 Second Edition (with or without 98lite).*
[2] Install all drivers for your hardware.
[3] Install Internet Explorer (any version).*
[4] Install latest DirectX 9c.*
[5] Install latest Service Pack 3.x (Main Updates).*
[6] Install optional components of Service Pack 3.x.*
[7] Install MS Office.*
[8] Install KernelEx, 98SE2ME, Revolution Pack.*
[* = Optional]

And linkage to the thread:

https://www.techtalk.cc/viewtopic.php?t=65

-Ali



thanks!   I've planning to rebuild a w98 box but haven't got to it 
yet.   This will help!

Re: Any hope for CBM VIC-1525 Printers & ribbons?

[drlegendre .]

Oops, I forgot to mention.. it needs to be unexpectedly, to the point of
absurdly cheap! ;-)

Really though, these printers are mostly of "historic" interest, and not
much more - the mechanism is slow and noisy, with print quality somewhere
between 'poor' and 'acceptable'. I suspect that most owners, like myself,
only wish to run off a few listings to verify operation, produce a few demo
print-outs, (PrintShop maybe?) etc.

I'm mostly looking for a cheap & cheery way to re-ink or otherwise
rejuvenate the ribbon for a couple more goes, so it can be demonstrated,
etc. As of this writing, the whole black analine + ethanol + glycerin
recipe is starting to look good.. so long as the inking roller in the
cartridge will hold-up!



On Sat, Jan 30, 2016 at 7:46 PM, Curious Marc 
wrote:

> I have used ribbonsunlimited.com recently to remake a lot of my HP2631
> very odd ribbons. Wasn't cheap but sure worked perfectly.
> la...@ribbonsunlimited.com
> Marc
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> > On Jan 30, 2016, at 5:24 PM, drlegendre .  wrote:
> >
> > Has anyone found a source for replacement ribbons, or even re-inking
> > supplies, for the Commodore VIC-1525 printer?
> >
> > This printer was manufactured in Japan by Seikosha for CBM, and was also
> > sold in the USA by Radio Shack, re-badged under the Tandy / TRS-80 brand.
> >
> > For reference - The VIC-1525 employs an odd two-cassette ribbon system,
> > that uses a continuous-loop ribbon only about 24" in total length. One
> > cassette contains a spring tensioner mechanism, with the second cassette
> > holding the inking roller and (friction?) gear.
> >
> > The ribbon loop is strung side-to-side between the two cartridges, with
> the
> > front strand passing in front of the print head, and the rear strand
> > passing through the ribbon advance clutch.
> >
> > Google turns up nothing, except for some homebrew recipes for making new
> > ink.. and one site offering exorbitantly priced NOS ribbons that are just
> > as likely dried up.
> >
> > Thanks for any & all input..
>

Re: Substituting DSHD for DSDD disks (or DS2D if you prefer)

[Curious Marc]

On Jan 26, 2016, at 10:07 PM, Fred Cisin  wrote:
>>> 82901A and the HP 9121D now work great. Quite low capacity (270k?) due to 
>>> the weird LIF formatting, formats 35 tracks but uses only 33, out of the 
>>> 40. I wonder why.
>> Partially because the original 5.25" drives (Shugart SA400) were 35 track 
>> (#0 - #34), not 40.
> 
> I don't even remember, . . . Does LIF also reserve some space for 
> substitution for bad sectors?
> (there were a higher percentage in those days)
Yes, LIF had two spare tracks. That explains it. 33 tracks + 2 spare tracks 
matches the 35 original Shugart drives you mention. Mystery solved, thanks.