Kaypro 4/84 questions

[Brian Wheeler]

On Wed, 2007-11-07 at 15:26 -0800, Fred Cisin wrote:
> On Wed, 7 Nov 2007, Brian Wheeler wrote:
> > However, trying to read a kaypro formatted disk isn't working.  It reads
> > 4K and then fails.  Anybody used setfdprm on linux to set up reading
> > kaypro iv/10 disks?   They look like they're 10 sector (numbered 0x0a -
> > 0x13), rate=2 disks.
> 
> Sure that isn't 5K before failure?

It hit 4K exactly -- the linux driver started complaining when trying to
read sector 9, which meant that 8 worked...

> Notice that side "B" of a disk formatted by Kaypro does NOT have the
> correct value for "head number" in the sector headers.  With a PC (NEC765
> type chip), you will have to go below the BIOS (Int13h) for reading those
> sectors.  It is not very hard to do, but can introduce some additional
> fun, particularly with relatively new machines.
> 

Interesting.  I'll look at the setfdprm documentation to see if its
possible to fudge the sector number.


> 
> > I'll probably mount the 5.25" DSDD drive in my linux box as well, but
> > it'd be nice to know how to read disks without hassle :)
> 
> TRY formatting the disk IN KAYPRO FORMAT on the PC.  The good news (what
> little there is) is that the Kaypro (WD type chip) although it puts the
> wrong value for "head number" in the sector headers, does not object to
> finding the correct value there.
> 

nifty.  I'll give that a try as well.

Brian

> 
> --
> Grumpy Ol' Fred     		cisin at xenosoft.com