[Coco] Somewhat OT - SWTPC 6809 Restoration Project

[Joel Ewy]

Ron Bihler wrote:
> Gene Heskett wrote:
>> On Sunday 12 April 2009, Ron Bihler wrote:
>>  
>>> Joel Ewy wrote:
>>>    
>>>> Hey all,
>>>>
>>>> I have on loan the remains of two or three SWTPc 6809 computers that
>>>> had belonged to the late friend of a friend, and I'm going to try to
>>>> restore them to working condition.  (I can probably only get one
>>>> working, since there only seems to be one CPU board, unless another
>>>> one turns up in other boxes...)  My plan is to try to get Flex and
>>>> OS-9 running, and maybe get it to run some old text adventures and
>>>> such things.  If I get real ambitious I might hook up one of those
>>>> serial<->ethernet/telnet thingies and make it play adventure games
>>>> over the Internet.  First things first though.  I'm cataloging the
>>>> parts and trying to understand the DAT circuit on the CPU board.
>>>>
>>>> If you have an interest in such arcana, you can check out my progress
>>>> here:  http://8littlebits.wordpress.com/category/swtpc/
>>>>
>>>> JCE
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>       
>>> Been working on a 6809 SWTPC as well, the machine I have is
>>> operational.  However it appears the DC-4 floppy controller didn't like
>>> shipping and I have not been able to get the Flex boot disk to work.
>>> Still a work in process, but a step at a time.
>>>
>>> Let me know how you do, I would like to get os9 running on the machine
>>> as soon as I get the floppy to work again.  Have you run the everson
>>> emulation?  Very cool and I am hoping the rom images from the emulation
>>> will work to load OS9.  The flex disk formats are very odd, but in the
>>> end the controller is not working right.
>>>
>>> Ron Bihler
>>>     
>>
>> What FDC chip is in that controller?  I have had several 1773's go 
>> toes up over the years & ATM have NDI where fresh ones can be had.  I 
>> used up all my spares in the EDISK workalike (but much much better) 
>> at the tv station over the years.  Or is someone now making clones?  
>> For the 1793, the MB8877 (Fujitsu?) works even better, but again, 
>> those are false teeth for chickens at best.
>>
>>   
>
> Need to look it up again, it's a DC-4 controller and I think the 1773 
> is correct.
> Thanks
> Ron
>

The DC-4 I've got has a 1797.  In my little plastic drawer labeled "WD 
FDC" I have an FD1797B-02, about 7 2797s, a couple 1793s, and a 765A -- 
none of which are known to be bad.  :-)

JCE

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