Re: 4k Z8 microcontrollers for 10 meg profile formatting

just for the record, I didn't sell anybody a Z8 :-)

I sent one to Jason for free, with the idea that the Lisa community ought to have a few of these things floating around, shared among us as needed.

I still have several more Z8s and will ship to others who require them, but in general I hope we might try to share unusual parts that we use for diagnostics and service from time to time. I guess they aren't making any more of them. You can see a similar thing in that excellent YouTube video series where curiousmarc et al. repair a Xerox Alto <https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-_93BVApb58I3ZV67LW3S_JEMFnDrQDj>---they borrow components from the Living Computer Museum in Seattle to help guide their repair.

Call me silly or crazy but I think we can do it...

(and well, okay, maybe they still make Z8s <https://www.digikey.co.uk/products/en/integrated-circuits-ics/embedded-microcontrollers/685?k=z8+microcontroller&k=&pkeyword=z8+microcontroller&pv1989=0&FV=fffc010d%2Cffe002ad%2C7e80041&quantity=0&ColumnSort=0&page=1&stock=1&pageSize=25> :-)

--Tom

On Sun, Apr 1, 2018 at 5:45 PM, compu_85 <perkins.jason_at_email.domain.hidden> wrote:

> Tom was kind enough to sell me one of the piggyback Z8 chips, and I
> tracked down some 4k EPROMs. Time for some adventures with Profile
> formatting!
>
> Here's what I've got:
>
> - Lisa 2/5, 2/10, 2 port card
> - BLU 0.90
> - Piggyback 4k Z8, M2732A EPROMs
> - TL866A USB programmer
> - 2x working 5M Profile assys
> - 1x working 10M Profile assy
> - 1x non working Profile assy (used with an Apple ///, was able to
> extract an image, has many bad sectors)
> - 1x PC Seagate ST506 mechanism (unknown condition, but quiet
> bearings. An early mechanism, from 1982)
>
> Here's what I tried:
>
> - Wrote the 2k 5mb profile formatting .BIN file from Patrick's
> archive(found here: http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/
> pdf/apple/disk/profile/firmware/
> <http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/apple/disk/profile/firmware/>
> ) to the EPROM. I copied all the data from x0000 to x07FF and pasted it at
> x0800, which filled to x0FFF
> - Installed on the socketed Z8. Upon power up the head seeks to track 0
> - Attempted low level format in BLU. The LLF proceeds normally.
> - After removing the jumper when prompted, the spare table scan
> starts.
> - When the spare scan gets to the last track, it bombs out with status
> 00000003, 00000002, or 00000001.
> - Using the built in port on the 2/5 and a port on the 2 port card in
> the 2/5 didn't make a change
> - Swapping the disk mechanism into a known working 5M Profile didn't
> make a change
> - Using the PC disk mechanism - which had the same part number stepper
> motor as the Apple disk mechanism - gave the same results
> - Moving the track 0 sensor would make the status error come up as
> 00000001 more frequently. I elongated the mounting holes for the sensor and
> moved it a fair bit in both directions.
> - For giggles I tried the 10mb formatter software with the 5mb disk
> mechanism. Of course the stepper hits the end stop before it finishes
> formatting. BLU did give a counter for the track it was working on, which
> it didn't do with the 5mb firmware.
>
> Any suggestions for what I should try next? I suppose it's possible I have
> 2 bad 506 mechanisms, but I'm reluctant to try formatting one of the
> working profile 506s and have that fail too.
>
> I wonder if it's time to build a UsbWidEx...
>
> Thanks!
>
> -Jason
>
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