Tag Archives: old-computers

Computer cards i’ve owned / used

2023-01-11 fash Leave a comment

Only cards worth mentioning.
I will add more information to this page

Graphics:

Hercules ???? – Did a lot of machinecode on this one. (Which?)
CGA/EGA Card ??? – Machinecode hacking
VGA .. first card also machine code hacking
Matrox
Some cards i knew a lot about, i did some manipulations using assembly that were very interesting, but only worked on that specific brand.

16 Bit ISA VGA card that is compatibe with 8bits slots for my XT.
see https://www.henriaanstoot.nl/2022/11/16/hercules-to-vga/

Sound:

I’ve bought a lot of Crystal Soundcards, there were breeze to install and use under linux, way back when it was hard to get supported hardware.

Firewire card (for Studio equipment):

Videocapture:

Video blaster – Which i used to record video (Like ‘Sepp en fash vervelen zich nooit’) and my DIY controllable webcam.

Pinnacle PCTV- Brooktree Bt848

I used the firewire connection to get the footage of my Canon Video Camera

Hauppauge WinTV PVR 350

Basetech BR116 (Current) – RCA

Camlink 4K (Current) – hdmi

Other:

Stallion RS-232 card for connecting multiple serial terminals.
(Icecrew chat server on Lan Parties)

insmod istallion board0=brumby,0x350,0xcc000
/usr/lib/stallion/stlload -i 2681.sys

Wyse Multiport Serial Card

Ramvantage 16bits ISA memory expansion

PC Hardware diagnostics card

Could not find any information on this card

Catweasel

The Catweasel is a family of enhanced floppy-disk controllers from German company Individual Computers. These controllers are designed to allow more recent computers, such as PCs, to access a wide variety of older or non-native disk formats using standard floppy drives.

You could connect joysticks and there is a socket for a SID chip on the card.

Computer

Serial link between MSDos and Linux troubles

2022-12-14 fash Leave a comment

In post https://www.henriaanstoot.nl/2022/11/25/disk-troubles-or-missing-old-skool-hardware/ i mentioned the serial connectors i’ve bought to connect the Laser XT to my Workstation to transfer files.

The null modem i’ve made is like mentioned on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_modem

I’ve used the loopback handshaking using 3 wires. ( Only using a DB25 and a DB9 on the other end )

So i configured the Linux side as follows.

I’ve tried two usb to serial converters.

Both when trying on windows 10 are not supported any more

Dec 14 17:34:40 zspot kernel: [ 1082.299607] usb 1-4: pl2303 converter now attached to ttyUSB0

sudo stty -F /dev/ttyUSB0 9600

Then i start dosbox.
To enable a com port i have to enter:

serial1=directserial realport:ttyUSB0

Starting Norton Commander and selecting COM1

After a few seconds i got this ..

What else is there to check?
At least i’ve still got the Flux Engine!

Computer

Fluxengine and assembly

2022-12-01 fash

The fluxengine works perfectly!

Copied the files used in this post:
https://www.henriaanstoot.nl/2022/11/16/assembly-in-dosbox-and-draw-a-line/
using fluxengine on linux to a 720kb floppy.

And OBS to capture the video (using a VGA to HDMI convertor and the Camlink)

Computer

Fluxengine disk reader

2022-12-01 fash

I’ve build a drawbridge disk reader in the past:
https://www.henriaanstoot.nl/2022/04/26/started-to-build-a-drawbridge/
I found an even more interesting project.

I was looking for a solution to my XT laser problem.
https://www.henriaanstoot.nl/2022/11/25/disk-troubles-or-missing-old-skool-hardware/

And found this! The fluxengine
https://github.com/davidgiven/fluxengine

An open source project using a small controller board.
“Flashing” some software on the board and soldering a pinheader was easy.
When connecting a flat cable and a floppy drive, you end up with a device which can read many formats. Including dos 1.44/720 and amiga.

Nice package it came in

Using the power from a sata/ide harddisk adaptor

Reading and writing a MSDOS disk, no problem.
Imaging an amiga disk .. easy!

You need to compile some software, but it was well documented

Computer

Disk troubles or missing old skool hardware?

2022-11-25 fash

I bought a XT Laser/3 a while ago.
And i wanted to get my old programs running on it again.

One of the disk i found was a 5.25 inch boot disk which should contain a boot demo i’ve made in the past with Edk.
But it is the secondary drive in this system. Those old machines lack a bios you can change.
And change A: for B: for example.
Some machines had a program which could alter boot settings. (not this one)
So i was playing with jumpers and dipswitches on the motherboard.
( Drive select / Termination / drive before or after the twist in the flatcable. )

Wellll leave the boot order for now, i needed to get software on the machine using floppy’s.
I could not find empty HD disks (1.44MB which i wanted to use)
So i took a DD disk and a drill ..

I bought an external usb floppy drive.

Now i have everything to get my programs on the msdos machine.

EXCEPT ….

Diskette didn’t work in the drives.
So i bought new old stock diskettes online.

Now i have everything

WRONG again

Formatted 1.44 disk in USBfloppy drive .. OK
Read in 3.5 drive on the MSDOS machine .. NOT OK
Check drive in MSDOS machine .. is 1.44MB .. OK
… check floppy controller in MSDOS machine .. NOT OKAY
(720kb is 300kbits per second and 1.44 HD 500kbits per second)
So i’m limited to 720kb due to the controller ..

Can the USB Floppy drive read/write 720kb disks .. NO!
( A cheap series made with drives only supporting HD disks )

Alternatives? .. Serial maybe, there is Norton Commander on the MSDOS machine so i could use “link”

Do i still have a USB-RS232 sub-d cable ? YES!
Nullmodem cable? NO
Make a null modem cable .. i’ve made those before .. BUT no sub-d connectors.

I’ve been throwing away too much in the past.

Now i have to buy those things again:

VGA – 8bit ISA – have 2 now
Floppy drive – have one for 1.44
8bit soundblaster compatible – TODO
Nullmodem – well i’ve bought connectors for those

Computer

Assembly in Dosbox, and draw a line

2022-11-16 fash

Below my setup in Dosbox.
(As used 30 years ago)

First install dosbox (Linux/Windows)

download the package with used files and compilers from here:
https://media.henriaanstoot.nl/assembly.tgz

extract with tar xzvf /tmp/assembly.tgz to a directory

start dosbox and mount the directory as C

mount c /path/assembly

Run “a line”, this a batchfile which starts the editor (qedit)
When closing the file (esc – q menu)
It will compile the assembly and write out a executable

This is the batchfile

@echo off
q %1.asm
cls
masm %1.asm;
link %1.obj;
exe2bin %1.exe %1.com
echo READY!

line assembly code

    NAME lijnentrekroutine

.286

Code SEGMENT
    ASSUME CS:Code,DS:Code
org 100h
Start:
    mov ax,13h            ;set video mode
    int 10h

    mov bx,100
    mov cx,100
hiero:
    mov dx,0a000h
    mov es,dx
    mov ax,320
    mul cx
    add ax,bx
    mov di,ax
    mov al,2
    stosb
    inc bx
    inc bx
    inc cx
    cmp bx,150
    jnz hiero


    mov ah,8
    int 21h
    mov ax,3
    int 10h

    MOV AX,4C00h
    INT 21h

code ends
end start

Computer

Hercules to VGA

2022-11-16 fash

While playing with MuseScore….
(Typesetting some scores for Pipes and Flute)

This came in: WOOOT

This is a Trident VGA card. While having a 16bit ISA connector, it can work in a 8bits ISA slot.

A while ago i bought a Laser XT/3, that’s the one my parents had.
This is where i did a lot of assembly programming on.
It’s a 8086 cpu, 640K and has a Hercules/CGA graphics card.

I found loads of assembly files and i want to see if i can get it running again.
While some code was written for hercules, ( That’s the monochrome image you see in the example above ) and a few for EGA (4 colors).

Most of it was written for VGA. Probably on a later machine like a 80386?

But i know there are vga cards for 8 bit msdos computers, and i found one. ( This one is even autodetect, so no jumpers to figure out)

So i’ve put this card in the machine, turned it on, and it works!
I’ve got only 2 examples living on the harddisk of the machine, both black and white … 🙂
I have to search for interesting code in hundreds of files.

Some friends of mine, picture was taken from an amiga genlock digitizer

The intro pages of a “amiga emulator” WHERE is the rest??? (end is a cga starfield demo)

Hercules Card

There is not much info available about this card:

Max resolution (Hercules) : 720×348
15 pin analog monitor port (CN1)
BIOS enabled JP1 Pins 1 & 2 closed
BIOS disabled JP1 Pins 2 & 3 closed
CGA selected SW1 On
MDA (Hercules) selected SW1 Off

Floppy drive boot

My friend EDK and I made some demo’s like

Sakura demo

And a boot demo, which was able to start from a bootsector, went into a graphic mode and ran a demo with sound. Edk wrote a sector loader for this.
I have some 5.25 inch floppy disks, labelled boot demo. So i wanted to try this today …
I needed to change the boot order, so i went online to search for jumper settings.

I see a led when it tries to boot, but my disks are probably formatted 720Kb instead of 360Kb, which this drive is.

So …. TODO!

Find a 720Kb floppy drive (5.25 inch), and sort through my code!
There is a 8bit soundblaster compatible soundcard that i bidding on online, hopefully i’ll get it

Assembly and modes

I wasn’t sure how to sort the assembly code into Hercules and VGA compatible, but i used this table (There are also extended modes for higher resolutions)

mode 0x00	text 40×25 gray
mode 0x01	text 40×25 16 colors
mode 0x02	text 80×25
mode 0x03	text 80×25 16 color
mode 0x04	graphics mode (CGA) 320×200
mode 0x05	graphics mode (CGA) 320×200
mode 0x06	graphics mode (CGA) 640×200 (B/W)
mode 0x07	text 80×25 Hercules
mode 0x0F	graphics mode 640×350? gray
mode 0x10	graphics mode 640×350?
mode 0x11	graphics vga 2 colors
mode 0x12	graphics vga 16 colors
mode 0x13	graphics 320×200 256 colors

# Set VGA mode
    mov ax,13h
    int 10h         ;screen 320x200 256 colours

# Exit VGA mode
    mov ax,3
    int 10h         ;screen  80x25 text
    mov ax,4c00h
    int 21h         ;back to DOS

Computer

7 segment displays/keyboard decoders in SDK’s

2022-10-18 fash

There are a lot of old develop boards for all kinds for cpu’s.

These where build to learn machine code programming. Mostly made in the 80’s, and based on populair cpu’s at that time.

I own a some of these SDK’s (System Design Kits)

Most of these use a keyboard scanner which is also connected to 7 segment displays.

The way they work is practically the same. There is a VIA or PIA. Versitile interface adaptor, or Peripheral interface adaptor. These have two times 8 bits to control devices.
When using 4 bits and convert these to 16 lines by using a 75ls145 for example. If you put a counter on those 4 bits, you sequently activate 1 of 16 lines. These lines you can use to scan a keyboard matrix OR display a character on a 7 segment display. These display’s won’t hold the data (and show the character) when not activated. The trick is to update de display fast enough so you don’t see the flickering on/off.

Activate a line and read a byte with the VIA = Reading keyboard row
Activate a line and write a byte with the VIA = Display on a segment

These VIA/PIA’s where made with specific timings to match the CPU.
6522/6820/8255

Below you see some different implementations of these keyboard/display combo’s

Microprofessor MPF-1 kit (ignore red circle)

My version using darlington arrays (ULN2003)

When looking at the 8085 version you see transistors being a ULN2003 is a chip with those transistors/amplification enclosed.
It doesn´t draw much current from the bus, and diodes protect the way the current flows.

Computer

SDK-85 searching archives

2022-09-28 fash

Found these old .. old mini-cassettes .. wish i could read these now.
The sdk units we had, had tapedrives and few other hardware devices you could play with. Like a motor you could control, which had a disc with slots in it on top. These slots could be read and counted with a sensor to determine the speed.

Also this scanned pages, from school i found. There should also be a little notbook with programs and notes ..

Found some ROM files also

Practicum handl digi computertechniek I – oa Microtrainer