[sebhc] Z37 Calibration

[Mark Garlanger]

> Lee Hart wrote:
> 
> Mark Garlanger wrote:
> >   I got the H-89-37 controller installed, I can NOT believe how
> > little room there is to work in the H-89. Getting all the cables
> > and boards disconnected, reconnected, and routed in the computer
> > just about drove me crazy.
> 
> It seems bad, but it isn't. It all fits together "just so". Like packing
> a suitcase, you have to install each piece in order, and route the
> cables as shown in the illustrations, and it all fits neatly.
> 
Maybe once you get used to it, but it's much harder than installing any
board in a post-IBM PC system ;-)  

I was able to reconnect easily reconnect all the cables except for the
serial ports. I have no idea which serial cable belonged with which port, I
guess connectors on the back will just be random.

Also, from the shipping damage, the CPU board does not set all the way down
on the right side. 

> > I'm currently at a loss on how to create new bootable soft-sectored
> > disks.
> 
> First, you need the Heath CP/M master disks, which have all the files
> you need. It needs to be at least version 2.203 to have the support
> files for the soft-sector controller.
> 
> Basically, you run the MAKEBIOS proceedure, to make a new BIOS to
> support both the H17 and H37 controllers. Heath documents the proceedure
> pretty well, but it is tedious (especially with only a single H17
> drive!). When it finishes, you'll have a bootable H17 disk that *will*
> talk to the H37.

Great this helped. Makebios was the step I was missing. Looked like whoever
wrote the PREL.COM program, didn't expect it to be run with one floppy, it
appeared to read and write only one sector at a time. 

> 
> Next, you use this new CP/M to format a soft-sector H37 disk. Then, use
> MOVCPM37 to make it bootable. PIP whatever files you want from the H17
> to the H37 disk. Now you have a bootable H37 disk, and can ignore the
> H17 from then on.


When I was formatting disks, it sounded like it was working, but after about
30 seconds, it came back with an "Unable to format this disk" error message.
I'm using drives I had not tested before so I don't know if it is the
controller or the drives, but I did try two different 5.25" drives and one
3.5" drive and got the same message. I guess I'll wait for the Z37 diag disk
and see if it can narrow down the problem. 



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